I think the answer is to be very careful of where they're targeted. Some targeted areas are much more effective than others, and small amounts of money can go a long way; we certainly learned this at Rights and Democracy. Working with key NGOs that are proven to be effective, as opposed to ones that aren't well researched or that have unknown principals with unknown track records--that is effective, as is working with media.
Working with women has proven to be very effective; it's because women treat the dollars differently. That's been proven by the World Bank in the studies they've shown. If you give a woman a dollar, she'll spend 90¢ of it on her community. They've done a study on gender difference. If you give that dollar to a male, he'll spend 10¢ to 15¢ on the community.
It's targeting aid to groups that will deal with it effectively, and I'm not saying that in any kind of provocative way. The World Bank has proven that.