Do you GIVE money to friends?

By now, author Elizabeth Gilbert's EAT PRAY LOVE book has been an international best seller and a movie staring Julia Roberts & Javier Bardem.

In the book, Gilbert recounts the story of how she raised money from friends to give to her friend/healer Wayan to build a home for Wayan and her daughter.

After the book came out, Gilbert has amassed a personal wealth of $25million.  Enough to build many homes many times over. 

But what happened when Gilbert decided to share some of her personal "good fortune" with close friends?  When is it a good idea to help out a friend by gifting money? 

What do you do when it comes to money + friends?