&gt; So donating anything is elitist? Most things that are donated are things that someone else provides for a price, so you will always be &quot;taking a job&quot; from someone else.<p>If you donate <i>things</i> then you&#x27;re still buying it from someone, but giving it to someone that cannot afford them. So really, you&#x27;re a surrogate purchaser.<p>The problem comes in when you&#x27;re donating time (via work) to a group that can afford to pay for it, and there are people looking for work that are willing to work for the normal wages&#x2F;rates that would&#x27;ve been paid.<p>If the people receiving the benefits of the work can&#x27;t afford to pay, you aren&#x27;t taking the work from anyone. When there&#x27;s no one willing to work for the rates being offered, you aren&#x27;t taking the work from anyone. But when people are willing to work for the rates offered, and you give your time for free, you are taking the work from other people.<p>The ethics and morality of giving is kind of complicated.