Yes, sometimes the local nonprofits doing real legwork are both needy and very cost effective, not top heavy with admin.
We worked longterm with a meal site that could do hundreds of hot meals/month, for the poor and working poor, on a shoestring budget. Some quarters, they couldn’t project funds out 6 months. Only the cook was paid (and that was little.) It served a need when the bigger places in town were closed. There are others out there, to be discovered, that fly very low under the national or international ratings.
It helps to know what smaller entities actually do, that you endorse that. But you have to decide how much you can do (or donate,) as an individual.
Yes, our small nonprofit stopped participating in the local United Way because it was too onerous to meet their requirements and the bookkeeper said it would cost more than the donations we’d been receiving from participating.
We rely most in donations and mainly pay liability & directors & officers insurance and minimal supplies costs. For awhile we got grants so we could offer statewide lung testing, but that funding ended and we are ok with scaling back our services. We are very frugal and really stretch the money we have.
Yes, S1 and I have had the chat about charity and the global vs. local level. DH and I tend to focus on local groups that work with the homeless and who provide food to those in need. For many years, we’ve made dinner once a month for a shelter. A friend and I also coordinate a quiltmaking project for a local women’s shelter. The need never seems to end…but we have been graced with fabric donations from many people, and the local quilt shop opens its doors so we can have work days every quarter.