There is a great book out there called "Begging for Change". It was written by a man who started a soup kitchen in DC with a different philosophy.....he judged success on not seeing the same people ever again.
His belief is that charities should not be judged by how little money get skimmed off the top for administrative pay, but by how they solve the problem. If a charity does not try to actually solve the problem in a realistic way, it deserves no money.
That is exactly what I am looking for in a charity. I don’t necessarily expect that we can eliminate poverty (”For ye have the poor always with you.”), but I do expect that the charity makes progress, that it is not just a self-perpetuating entity. Moving people off the welfare rolls and into jobs is a great definition of success. Newly poor people showing up doesn’t negate that.
For many organizations, my definition of succes would be that they work themselves out of business. For example, an organization looking to cure a disease should have an exit plan for when that disease is cured.