We're getting wordy and I only had time to skim for now, but to rebut a claim made twice above, I never said universities were special or somehow more deserving of giving than other causes. Quite the contrary. Pretty much my entire point in this thread has been to respond to those who have dismissed university giving as worthless, citing things like "I don't owe them," "I had a bad experience," "they will waste my money on things I disagree with," etc.
I think it's great if you've found other causes you find more rewarding to support. But if you are going to attack universities and anyone who chooses to support them, you need much better arguments than the above (which Ender, at least, has provided to some extent). Also, if you choose to read into my words and feel judged, that's on you. I have been very explicit that I only judge people who give to nothing whatsoever. Me, I have been giving an unfortunately low 1-2% of my income in recent years as I have been dealing with a hair on fire debt emergency until very very recently (yay!). I am stoked that I now am in a place I can ratchet that up a bit. And guess what, most of that giving will NOT go to my alma mater.
Also, regarding the research, come on man. Are you really saying almost all worthwhile research happens outside of universities? For one easy example off the top of my head, look up the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. It is literally considered the top non governmental agency for climate research in the entire world (and better than all but one or two government agencies). I would call that a critical issue and there are few, if any, places you can better direct your giving if that topic concerns you. Besides that, medical breakthroughs happen all the time as a result of university research, as do advances in things like renewable energy, robotics, machine learning, etc., etc. Many of these happen in partnership with industry, perhaps, but you have a highly pessimistic view of what exactly happens in the ivory tower. You may have toured one wing of one sausage factory, but not all brats are created equal. Of course universities are historically bad at marketing to anyone but prospective students or sports fans, so it's to be expected I suppose.