Everyone is familiar with the phrase, "Nice Guys Finish Last," but many of us don't seem to grasp the true meaning of the concept. On Gaia, you see tons of wonderful avatars and plenty of aquariums easily worth over 2mil. Now 9 out of ten times, if you went to this wealthy gaian's store, there would be warnings about beggars and whiners, but at the poors' stores, all you see is "Welcome" and "Please Buy My Stuff!"
The real reason why nice guys finish last is because they are too generous. Myself included, I have given away over 90k of gold and 300k items to people who were in need and my friends can certainly testify to that, but lately, when I haven't been talking to many people and switched accounts, I've found myself coming off quite well in fact I've been able to purchase nearly everything I've ever wanted, a kiki is my last item. With that being said, a word of advice to those who find that they are not receiving enough gold, achieve your own dream before helping people with their owns and offer the same advice.
Back when I was always donating, the most expensive item I had was a grunny which was worth around 40k. Everything else was 10k or lower. True, most starting gaians are in search of gold to get started, but so was I and I made it just fine. No one has ever donated to me until I was rich and then, thank my friend whom I love dearly, donated a RainBow Neko Cosplay from my current dream avie. It just goes to show you, the new kids(If they really ARE kids O.o)) will drain you dry in their attempts to get a stable head start, but if you're wise, and not quite as rich as you'd like, beware of them; they hold nothing but upturned hats to catch the gold falling from your generous fingers.
This is actually a great idea, asking for essays, but from what I've seen, the grammar is lax, the organization poor, and spell check must have been chucked out of the damned window. Seriously, once you find a good essay, whoever you are that's donating, that stands out from the rest, donate to that person because they truly earned it. Not just begging aimlessly, make sure they actually have a set goal that's verifiable.

PSS:::
zOMG and Booty grab are excellent opportunities to make a living here so please don't think me rude, I'm just trying to help. ^_^