I hear what you are saying--I've been asked to quilt some real messes made by a group from my church intended for charity. I worked to get many that be acceptable but there were some that got tossed by me (with organizer's ok) cause really a mess & they were going to foster kids. When I first got my LA my guild was cranking out quilts for every wartime vet in our county (some from WWII up to present) and with about 700 quilts we needed all our long armers. I considered those practice quilts--not that they were not done well, but it was me learning different patterns, etc. I've since gotten better, but those were fine, too.
A member of my guild works with homeless--she recommends acyrlic blankets with "space" blankets be donated as homeless have a better way to keep those clean and the "space" blankets are needed for wet weather or extreme cold.