Trevor,
heh-heh most families could LIVE on our tax payments, so you and I may be in the same boat.
But, if someone feels their money would be wasted by giving to an org like ASPCA or something, how about donating TIME? Try sitting on a Board of Directors for a local charity, you will see that indeed it does cost money to make the wheel turn, but in my experience, people that work for Non-Profits in a paid capacity are earning about half of what their peers in a commercial job earn. They really do it because they beleive in helping their fellow man.
There is a religious college near me, (pretty famous), and you can get your MA in Theology, or whatever, but the entire focus of the school is WHAT CAN YOU GIVE BACK? Most of these people pursue low-paying careers in helping the less fortunate.
I don't think any of us ever heard about these people in a WT or A, but I'm telling you they ARE out there and not all of them are rip-offs!
Path, I apologize if you got the impression from my postings, (or others) that I/we are giving because it is 'fashionable.' But I can tell you, all of my life my family has been OVERLY generous, but till now it had been mostly directed at 'giving to the CO' or 'giving to a pioneer'. I'm not interested in that, I'm interested in helping people who don't have the skills to help themselves. If a perfectly employable couple wants to travel around doing missionary work (esp. in this country) I say let 'em support themselves.
I'd rather give to victims of abuse, who don't have the tools to help themselves. That's all.