To hear some grantmakers you would think the proliferation of nonprofits is as serious and dangerous to society as the proliferation of nuclear warheads.

Today's Washington Post chatted about the options folks have for re-distributing their wealth of things.  You know, the extra clothing, furniture and appliances and just plain stuff that accumulates particularly after the holidays when a new batch of goods have entered the scene.

The Post noted that there were now lots of options for where to charitably redistribute goods that take the donor way beyond the ususal suspects of Goodwill and Salvation Army.  The big guys it noted were a good donor place but you don't quite know that people really in need will be the beneficiaries (there's all kinds of resellers out there getting good deals just for example).

But, the Post noted, there are also a number of much smaller distribution points who have relationships with the folks who might be recipients of goods and these relationships allow a matching process that ensures that folks with needs will get these needs better met.

So, small can be good -- even in the nonprofit sector where achieving economy of scale may be right for the economics but not as right for the customer in need.