Guess what, most non-profit organizations are useless but they make shit tons of money. Let me just quote the aforementioned article, "Over a decade, one diabetes charity raised nearly $14 million and gave about $10,000 to patients. Six spent no cash at all on their cause." I think that's alot more money than most every day churches.
I do agree with you that most of the money doesn't go towards the people however churches(religious places of worship) contribute to the people in more ways than just sunday school, food, and shelter. Religion has kept people in check for a long time, so they must be doing something right(or wrong depending on the way you see it.)