I’ve seen the same. Salaries and expenses are generally public for public charities; however, the private endowments and trusts’ financials are designed to be quite opaque.
The charities and boards I’ve been associated with were pretty much the same: the big money is “awarded” based on merit—merit being whoever met the board’s particular standard—usually the son or daughter of a board member from another such organization. “It’s all perfectly legal.” No one would ever be as gauche to say it, but it’s simply tax evasion on the largest scale imaginable.
There are many good charities, but as for the big trusts and private foundations, all the $$ stay with the “right” (Leftist) people. As i stated before, non-profit law was designed for the rich by the rich. It’s really criminal, but 100% legal.
nite