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Depends on where. I never do where I live. Not just beggars, but most charities that engage me on the streets as well. I just need to get through my day, and the money I have is already reserved for something, and anyone who knows me knows that the least enticing way to get me to do anything is to show up out of the blue and ask for something, or ask for something when I'm just moving through to some destination or purpose.
EDIT: My GF reminded me of a major exception to the above: There's this magazine often sold by people down on their luck. I usually buy it, even if I don't always read it, because the ones selling it are usually in the beginning stages of (hopefully) turning their life around. People fresh out of rehab, etc. They're making an effort, and I'll happily support them doing so.
I do support some charities, but none of the ones I support bothered me with expectations of social etiquette when I've got shit to do and places to be. I've finally reached the point in my life where I don't give two shits about coming off as rude or unfriendly.
When I'm somewhere foreign I'm a bit more nice/giving, though. For starters, I don't know much about local circumstances to know which hardships and lack of support anyone I meet face. Secondly, I am usually carrying some local jimjam currency I won't need once I leave. A prime examle of this is when I saw a beggar in Mobile, AL last year, and I walked past someone with that "default" sign of being a veteran et.al. I was leaving the next day and didn't really need whatever local currency I had in my pocket, so I gave him 40$. If he truly needed it (which I assume he did), then I hope it took a load off his shoulders for a while. If he didn't then it wasn't that big of a loss to me.