Charity galas with $500-a-plate dinners raise money, but I wonder if the overhead and exclusivity undermine the very cause they support. In my city, a local shelter got only 20% of the gala's net proceeds last year, while the venue and catering took the rest. Wouldn't direct giving or smaller community events do more good per dollar? I've volunteered at both types of events, and the gap between the message and the method feels hard to ignore. Maybe the real question is whether we should keep celebrating generosity in ways that mimic the inequality we're trying to fix.