Charity begins with Marketing?

I'm not an overly generous charity giver, but I have a few that I give to on a regular basis.
As we approach Christmas there is a frenzy of activity on the Charity Marketing front, bombarding us with glossy literature and status reports.
It is so bad that when I come back from Thailand, there is about 40% of a large pile of mail that can be attributed to Charity Marketing.
A Medical Research Charity that sends me a newsletter telling me what they are doing!? Well I bloody hope they are doing medical research??? Do they really need to spend 2 quid to tell me?
Third World aid programs. 'We're building wells and schools and educating farmers in sustainable agriculture' - Well, thank god you're not cutting down jungle and investing in chemical plants to manufacture pesticides!? That was keeping me awake at night worrying!

The sheer volume of this 'information' is what astounds me. Who collects up this PR extravaganza? Why? (and I don't mean that flippantly, I mean what is the purpose of collecting it?)

Put the useful information in one place, on the web, and send me an email linking to it! Wells dug, roads built, trees saved, literacy level improved by?

Less people paid on the PR merry-go-round, less trees killed, less delveries of junk mail to my house, and, most importantly, more time spent on helping people who need help!