This isn't 100% useless, as it causes economic activity, but it's done under the lie that non-profits are de facto good things.
This is the challenging thing about charities. If I want to evaluate the person selling me socks or smart phones, I look at the good they offer and decide if it is worth $N. If it is, I make the trade. If not, I don't.
But with charities, you have to figure out "is the marginal change the charity will do with $5 worth me having five dollars less?" And that's incredibly hard to figure out. Even the charity itself, assuming it even wants to know, can have a hard time figuring out the net difference of five dollars.
Which is the whole point of effective altruism.
or non-good, marginal good, regular doings, etc.
I will say that I took a holiday last year, and technically that is money I could have used to donate. So in that sense I am just as bad as they are.
But how do charities get donations without advertising? How do they let people know why they need the money and encourage them to donate? At some point, yes, a charity can spend too much of its donations on advertising, but advertising in general is a necessary evil.
Same with this. The charities might take in less overall if they "saved" money by scrapping these types of programs.