Not trying to knock the Wilson's off their pedestal:
Charitable contributions may benefit the recipients and the donors, but for the rest of the public, they don't do much good. Because charitable contributions are tax deductible, when people donate, taxes bill goes down. That doesn't, however, mean the need goes away too, so when wealthy people make deductions and take write-offs, either the rest of us are on the hook to fund essential public services or those services end up going unfunded. In fact, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, every $1 donated to charity by the top one percent of money makers results in a loss of 32 cents in federal tax revenue. Of course, rich people could decline to take the deduction for charitable donations, but most of them don't.