Still, it is helpful to have someone, whose job is to discriminate between the "special parasitic class of professional beggars and con artists" and people actually in need.
late reply. It doesn't necessarily mean donating to charities, but if you want to directly hand out money then you'd have to do some due diligence (not so different from doing due diligence on charities).
It'd also be helpful to put my comment in context. The article is talking about voluntourism, where the destination is often the developing part of the world. Having just been to Vietnam for 2 months (and volunteered there for a month), I can tell you that it's not difficult to just go on the street and find people in need.
Wages there is also so low that, in many cases, the cost of voluntourism can more than pay for local qualified individuals who can do your work better than you can. (Unless the position requires specific skills that is hard to find locally. Note that the ability to speak English doesn't count).
So if your goal is solely "make the world a better place", then skip the voluntourism and just donate your money. That said, if you want the experience, then by all means do whatever you want to do. It just may not be the most effective thing you can do to help.
