Many years ago, there was a scandal caused by the revelation that the national director of the United Way Campaign had a chauffeur-driven limousine and a multi-million-dollar salary. That news would not be scandalous nowadays. It probably wouldn’t even get noticed now. Humanewatch.org has just publicly reported that animal shelters get less than 1% of the money donated to the Humane Society. (This was not news to anyone who has actually worked in animal rescue; we’ve always known about the HSUS.) Indeed, there’s a big international animal welfare fund that’s been in operation for years. I wonder how many contributors know that the animal preserves purchased with these funds are leased to hunting clubs. When the tsunami hit southeast Asia several years ago, and when Haiti suffered that horrendous earthquake, uncounted trillions of dollars came from every direction. People could not wait to give, and it didn’t matter who did the asking. Did any of that money actually reach people in need? Maybe a little.

Most of the money donated to charitable organizations is spent to raise more money, to hire people to raise money, and to pay high-priced tax attorneys to keep the scam going. Fundraising is a booming business, and probably the only business outside of pharmaceutical sales that virtually guarantees salaries of six figures annually to employees with minimal education or training. A local church decided to wage a stewardship campaign. The first step was to hire professional fundraising consultants. Their initial fee was over $30,000. And then there were the costs associated with mass mailings, speakers, dinners, and such. Was the campaign successful? We don’t know. We do know that it takes an awful lot of money to raise money.

“We need help,” organized charities claim. Just try to help. Nothing is so demoralizing to a volunteer trying to offer free time or labor than the rejection they get. Their help was not wanted. Only their money. And not cash. Checks or credit cards, please, for the charity’s “records” (read tax write-offs—that’s as valuable as money—often more valuable.)

There are testimonial dinners and awards given for charity. Strangely, these awards are given to fund-raisers, not to fund-givers. Praise is heaped upon people with megabucks for raising the “awareness” of people with micro-bucks to give to X charity. And strangely, nobody ever asks why the award-winner didn’t just give some of those megabucks to X charity themselves. Multi-millionaire celebrities make a televised appeal for a charity and are given awards for having “worked tirelessly.” That such TV ads are the very best kind of PR doesn’t matter, I’m sure.

I don’t know if charity does good, but it certainly does well. And I’ve often thought about the fact that the good Samaritan did not organize a charity for injured travelers. He didn’t even set up a fundraising committee. He paid in cash. And he was anonymous.