I'm thinking more of the Christian tithe from a couple centuries ago than the Jewish tithe of a couple millennia ago. Socially expected, for the benefit of a charitable non-governmental organization(excepting the Papal States), used in principle for good works(albeit, with a much different definition of "good" than a modern effective altruist would use).

I'm not referring to extra donations. I'm referring to donations in general. I don't count taxes as donations, because they're pretty different creatures(voluntary vs mandatory, choice of target vs not, possibly effective vs government bureaucracy...).

Government does keep a basic safety net in place, albeit not efficiently or well. And yes, I most certainly have given up on improving it to any real extent. Government is a poor way of doing anything, which is why it should always be a backup plan. Anyone who worries about crowding out the government is simply looking at the world backwards.