I used to donate to AUW until i saw their spreadsheet and how much of your contribution actually goes to the charities.  So, I started donating to the Lokahi Program, then headed by Leslie Wilcox on KHON.  I volunteered to work in their donated warehouse space in Kaka'ako with student volunteers from our school.  I recall one session where there was only a young girl directing volunteers and later, her parents came to help her.  At lunch, she counted all of us and said she was temporarily leaving to get lunch for us.  I asked her who was donating lunch.  She replied that she was going to buy it (personal funds).  Wow!  I felt bad and gave her money which she initially refused until I insisted.  Talk about a grassroots organization that truly helped the needy!   When Wilcox left for PBS, it was run by her assistant for a couple of years, then taken over by another "non-profit" and renamed Laulima.  We tried volunteering a couple of times after the take-over, but it just wasn't the same.