From my limited experience, some people are severely overestimating religious organizations' reach and moolah. The organizations I am aware of, the salaried employees (usually less than 3) are paid at a rate of about $30-40/hour, which is barely manageable in the bay area. And these people usually have an MA and likely a PhD equivalent. They are primarily providing services to the congregation itself and managing outreach activities. Dozens of volunteers do the work, whether it is free clinic, hot meals, winter clothes, legal advice, temporary shelter, etc. Most of the fundraising is for these activities and 100% of it reaches the intended audience. The congregation takes the salaries, etc. as something they owe and covers it through the (voluntary) monthly donations. Needless to say, there are no profits, but real curtailing/shutting down of services due to shortfalls in fundraising.
I bet all the real estate tax of all the churches/synagogues/mosques/temples/gurudwaras in the bay area doesn't compare to one Stanford University Tax Compliance at Stanford. All this handwringing regarding tax exemption of religious structures is absurd.
As far as propaganda is concerned (the main reason behind this discussion), the amount of messaging I get from non-religious sources is >100x that of religious sources on a daily basis, ranging from consumerism and hedonism to philosophical and cultural appropriation.
Those who say religion is evil, I agree that "religious" people have committed atrocities, but the biggest atrocity going on right now is being committed by Chinese atheists against Uighur Muslims. But because it is not religious people doing it, it is business as usual.