Jason Hickel (friend of the pod :citations-needed:) talked about how he used to work for a charity in Africa that had poverty alleviation as one of it's goals, and how they would analyze why they weren't making any difference in that regard.

Turns out they couldn't do anything about poverty without getting "political", which the leadership didn't want as that would make them controversial and then the donations would stop coming. Better to stick with what gets them paid.