Pink Floyd sang about being in [their] system and "comfortably numb". If guess if you end up doing this benevolent stuff behind the scenes for decades you end up "silently smug" when it all comes together. Do the right thing, but nobody knows.
Very happy for a lot of good people who no doubt have worked endlessly with only a spiritual reward so far.
I think for somebody to have a propensity for doing benevolent things behind the scenes, they’d feel the most reward in seeing everyone set free when we come to that point where we can all live in a better more harmonious reality. That would be the ultimate reward.