I'm currently working on a charity quilt which will be used for fundraising rather than given to one of the charity's recipients (who need a lot of things, but quilts don't make that list). Sometimes you can accomplish a lot more that way, as for example with this charity quilt (not one of mine):
http://www.lothiancatrescue.org/fundraising.html#raffle, where it raised £951. I am making this quilt with skill and love, but it's less elaborate than many of my other quilts, which I think is fine. It's still a high-quality quilt, and it's still taken quite a while to make as it's hand-stitched. Unfortunately, the blocks were from a block swap, and not everyone in that - of the ones who bothered to make a block at all - took the same care that I do, including one block that is starting to fall apart now that I'm already quilting the whole thing. I don't know whether it was poor quilting skills, people not bothering because it was a block swap, or people not bothering because it was a charity quilt, but I made every block in that swap with as much care as I do my own, even if I did use it as an opportunity to use up some fabrics which are perfectly nice but not really my cup of tea. Anyway, I don't care who wins the raffle, though of course I hope they will appreciate the quilt. I don't care if they're rich or poor, the important thing is that they chose to support this charity.
I think there are situations where a quilt is a wonderful gift, and situations where it's not the most appropriate approach. Quilts are functional, yes, but a lot of the point is that they are beautiful as well. If someone has the basic necessities of life, for instance a cancer patient in a first world country, a quilt is a fantastic, affectionate gift. If someone does not have the bare essentials, for instance someone homeless or disaster victims, then I do not consider a quilt to be the best choice. You can buy a huge stack of blankets for the value of a single quilt, or other necessities such as food, water, medical care.
I was astonished when people started sending quilts to Japan after the disaster. A friend of mine was evacuated from Japan (while heavily pregnant and with a small child), and believe me, quilts were not what they needed. If you've already made a quilt, using it for fundraising is a better option in that case, I believe.
Speaking as someone severely disabled who could be considered an eligible charity quilt recipient, I would far far rather a quilt for ME/CFIDS was raffled off and the money used for biomedical research. That's what we desperately need.