The power of giving
Ed Mitzen doesn’t recall when he first got into philanthropy, but he says his mother told him it was when he was 5 years old and he went trick-or-treating for UNICEF at Halloween.
Now in his mid-50s, Mitzen has ratcheted up that giving spirit, but in a way that does far more than throw out a temporary lifeline. Instead, his “intentional philanthropy” enables people to build better businesses, stronger communities and a more equitable world. 
Mitzen and his wife, Lisa, are co-founders of Business for Good, a Capital Region nonprofit with a simple but life-changing mission: to put resources of all kinds into the hands of people who are in turn creating positive change in their own neighborhoods, particularly in underserved areas.
“I think it is human nature in all of us to see color, demographics, poverty and race,” said Mitzen, a successful business owner, author and award-winning philanthropist. “But Lisa and I see beyond that. We have both been blessed and we feel we are in a position that we can help those who just need a little extra juice to achieve their best success.”
Business For Good began in 2020 when the Mitzens, concerned over the pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, growing racial unrest and the brightening spotlight on white privilege, decided to use their wealth to create a more even playing field for entrepreneurs. Already well-known philanthropists for dozens of causes, agencies and organizations, the couple decided Business for Good would be more than just a handout, it would be a hand up.
“We saw so many minority-owned businesses that just needed some business help — mentoring to help them develop better business sense, and some financial help to grow their business,” said Mitzen. “We look for people who have proven ability, (who are) trying to do it but haven’t had the same opportunities that we have,” added Lisa. “That’s Business for Good.”
With its seemingly simple but sensible mission, those on the receiving end of such a helping hand have not only succeeded, but grown, bringing economic stability and opportunity to neighborhoods that might otherwise have been overlooked and underrated.
“Ed Mitzen is an angel that dropped into our center,” said Jamil Hood, who runs Hood’s House of Hoops at the Frank Chapman Memorial Institute in Albany’s West Hill neighborhood. Funding from Business for Good allowed for sorely needed electrical, plumbing and construction upgrades to the House of Hoops building, seed money for a variety of programs, and the ability to provide a safe environment and necessary resources for families and youth in a distressed urban area.
“I remember when Ed first started coming around and I thought, ‘What’s this white dude walking around here?’” laughed Hood, recalling Mitzen’s first visits to the program.
“He is a remarkable guy with a heart of gold, and he understands, don’t be afraid of the ’hood,” Hood continued. “Besides what he brings in terms of money and support for businesses and centers like ours, he shows that you don’t see color, (you) see good people.”
“I think the Mitzens see that we work very hard to make a business work and they believe in us,” said Marie Chapman, who, with help from Business for Good, moved her business from a farmers market cart into a brick-and-mortar storefront that continues to grow as Blooms by Marie. “My grandmother was a nanny and worked for all the rich white people in Jamaica,” she explained. “Ed Mitzen invested in me. I think he looks at a business and sees that it is one that will thrive if he invests.”
The author of two books, More Than A Number: The Power of Empathy and Philanthropy in Driving Ad Agency Performance and Wealthy and White: Why Guys Like Me Have to Show Up, Step Up, and Give Others a Hand Up, Mitzen also founded a series of successful advertising and marketing companies before starting Business for Good.
“We don’t see it as giving, but rather recognizing potential in business owners who just need a little more support, not just monetarily but academically, to make their businesses grow,” he said.
“I was lucky,” said Mitzen, who graduated from Syracuse University and University of Rochester’s Simon Business School. “I had people in my life to reach out to — family and friends, people who knew how to incorporate a business, get business insurance, how to market and to develop a profit-and-loss statement. I was able to get an MBA degree,” he said. “Many of the people we have helped had no access to mentors like I did, but are incredibly hardworking and passionate people, people who just did not have the opportunities others have.”
When it came to providing opportunity, Kizzy Williams, who owns Allie B’s Cozy Kitchen in Albany, has nothing but thanks and praise for the help she received from Business for Good — help that not only made her restaurant a very popular one, but also allowed her to do what she had always dreamed of doing.
“I grew up in Harlem and there was not a lot of opportunity for me. I went to school and took jobs, always just wanting to cook,” said Williams, who named her restaurant after her mother, Allie B. Bethea, a well-known area cook. Williams explained that when COVID hit, she feared for the future of her young business.
“They came into my life and provided the money I needed to get myself on my feet, to renovate the restaurant, and allowed me to open to the public once it was safe,” said Williams, who is also known for her own altruistic efforts on behalf of those in the West Hill neighborhood.
She’s since opened Allie B’s Fresh Fruits and Vegetables and Allie B’s Mac & Cheese, two newer businesses that were started with help from Business for Good. “They gave me confidence because they had confidence in me,” she said, noting the Mitzens are regular restaurant guests (Ed’s a fan of her pork ribs and Lisa loves her collard greens). “I was a girl born in Harlem with a mother from South Carolina who picked cotton,” she said. “The Mitzens see us as their babies, I think. And they grow us into successful adults.”
At a time when many people are thinking ahead to retirement, Mitzen teases that he doesn’t see he and Lisa ever giving up their mission.
“We have met amazing people along the way and built relationships with communities where they didn’t exist before,” said Mitzen, who estimates he and Lisa have helped hundreds of businesses and programs over the years. “This has been a real privilege for us to make new friends and help people realize their dreams and goals. We have gotten so much more out of our Business for Good efforts, much more than we have given.”
Get the Book
Wealthy and White: Why Guys Like Me Have to Show Up, Step Up, and Give Others a Hand Up by Ed Mitzen, published by Lioncrest Publishing. $16.99. 50 pages.
