The Gemara in Masechet Pesachim (8) comments that if a person says "I will give this coin to charity so that my son will live," meaning, specifically so that the merit of this Mitzva will restore the health of his seriously ill son, such a man is a "Tzadik Gamur" – an exceptionally righteous person.
Many commentators asked why such a person – who explicitly performs this Mitzva with ulterior motives in mind – earns this laudatory description. Rabbi Mordechai Banet (Hungary, 1753-1829) explains that the Gemara refers to an individual who gives charity and wants to ensure that the recipient will not feel any shame in accepting his donation. He therefore tells the pauper that to the contrary, he – the donor – benefits from this charitable donation, because he has a sick child who may likely be cured in the merit of this Mitzva. The Gemara teaches that such a person, who devises a method of giving charity while avoiding humiliation on the part of the impoverished recipient, is a "Tzadik Gamur" – an exceptionally pious individual.
Rabbi Mordechai Banet explains on this basis the verse in the Book of Tehillim (41:2), "Fortunate is the one who acts intelligently towards the poor person; G-d will spare him on a day of calamity." This verse may be read to mean that one "acts intelligently towards the poor person" by telling him that "G-d will spare him on a day of calamity." One who wishes to give charity intelligently will see to it that the recipient will feel as though he is the giver, as he realizes that the benefactor in truth receives far more as a result of this Mitzva than the recipient.
The story is told of a man who purchased stacks of wood and placed them in his porch in the front of his house. When he would meet a poor person, he would hire him to move the wood for him to the back of the house; when he would them come upon another person in need, he would hire him to move the stacks back to the porch. In this way, he provided financial assistance to those who so desperately needed it, while ensuring to preserve their dignity by having them feel that they earned the money, rather than receiving a handout.
This is the "intelligent" way to give charity.
