Surely there can be few things more commendable than donating to charitable organisations. Yet there are compelling strategic reasons to rethink the charitable model used for tackling social problems in many countries. Relying on voluntary public donations to fund charitable work can leave important but less popular causes without the support they require. For instance, many people are more willing to donate to charities assisting cancer patients or neglected animals than to those helping drug addicts, who are often viewed less sympathetically. Also, in some countries, the largest donors are wealthy individuals given tax reductions in exchange for their charitable donations. Such 'tax breaks' reduce the government's revenue, meaning that they have less money to fund a more comprehensive public service approach to addressing society's problems.