The state uses nonprofits to redirect activist energies into career-based modes of organizing instead of mass-based modes of organizing capable of actually transforming society.
Educational videos by Another Slice on the nonprofit-industrial complex here. Watch them all or you're a liberal.
Not all of the non-profit sector is a scam, just a lot of it. There are some genuinely good ones that actually strive to help others. I'll always shill pretty hard for Feeding America and their partners. All tax exempt non-profits publish their financial reports to the public and I hope that this post gives you some of the tools necessary to determine if a non-profit is worth donating to.