alt Hacker News> captured by small groups who manage them as their personal fiefdom
Isn't that intrinsic to what a charity is? They don't have customers, they're not trusts set up on behalf of someone else specific, they're a tax exemption with an ideological mission.
(still short on named examples in this subthread)
The key there is "ideological mission", which is immediately abandoned in all but name in favor of slinging money around the non-profit industrial complex.
Edit: A great example that comes to mind for me is Wikimedia. They beg for money every year telling you that it's to keep Wikipedia running, but not only do they have enough money to keep running for years, not only is running Wikipedia not their main expense, but they redonate some of that money to other nonprofits. Even if you agree with the missions of those other nonprofits (which are not in line at all with the mission of Wikimedia), you're trusting that an organization that already lied to you about where the money is going is making good choices with that money.