Donors open their wallets - and their eyes Sweet charity / The best way to do goodFor a barometer of attitudes toward charitable giving these days, look no further than the outpouring after the attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. One New York editor walked directly to her local fire department, which lost 50 percent of its firefighters, and handed them a $1,000 check. Fidelity Investments, which handles $2.4 billion in donor-directed funds, reported $10 million in client donations to Sept. 11 causes.