# The Impossible Math of Philanthropy

1 Opinion February 3, 2025 The New York Times ![bruce buchanan and hans taparia headshots](/sites/default/files/styles/246w/public/2024-09/buchanantaparia.png?itok=OGQcwFJM)By Bruce Buchanan and Hans Taparia

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The Lower East Side of Manhattan is home to some of the oldest and most storied charities in the country, founded at the dawn of the Progressive era. University Settlement, established in 1886, opened one of the first public baths in New York City. In 1893, Henry Street Settlement began offering health care to neighborhood residents; it later hosted the reception that opened the N.A.A.C.P.’s first conference.

Today, New Yorkers in need continue to depend on these charities for housing assistance, child and elder care, food security, education and employment training. Yet poverty on the Lower East Side has been increasing for decades, and Manhattan has the most unequal income distribution of any large county in America.

It’s a similar story across the country. In recent years, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg and many others have poured billions into fighting poverty, protecting the environment and improving health outcomes. Corporate giving has also grown significantly over the past five years. Yet despite these efforts, income inequality is worse than it’s been since before the Great Depression, and poverty and its associated social pathologies remain stubbornly pervasive. What gives?

Read the full [*The New York Times* article](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/opinion/philanthropy-charity-billionaires-math.html).
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*Bruce Buchanan is C.W. Nichols Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern. Hans Taparia is Clinical Associate Professor of Business and Society at NYU Stern.*

## More Opinions from Professors Bruce Buchanan and Hans Taparia

- [Condemn Meta.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/opinion/condemn-meta)
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- [Silicon Valley Is Maximizing Profit at Everyone's Expense. It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/silicon-valley-maximizing-profit-everyones-expense-it-doesnt-have-be-way)
- [One of the Hottest Trends in the World of Investing Is a Sham.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/one-of-the-hottest-trends-in-the-world-of-investing-is-a-sham)
- [Our Cities Are Going Dark.](https://www.stern.nyu.edu/index%2ephp/experience-stern/faculty-research/our-cities-are-going-dark)