I see that the TPF blog post mentions directed funds ...

I'm rather uneasy about that too. The approach of the EPO seems much better whereby you can donate directly into the appropriate fund (eg. CPAN Testers or the QA Hackathons, etc.). A dedicated, ring-fenced fund like these would probably be more attractive generally. Doubtless there are good reasons why TPF doesn't go down this route but it isn't helping their cause.