Often the main goal for the children participating in fundraisers is to win prizes. The fact that the funds will benefit the school and its programs pales in their minds. They are told that they will win one of the fancy prizes shown in the packet they received or win a pizza party for their class. If a child falls short of her goal while others surpass it, however, the child may experience disappointment and be discouraged. Children do not understand that some parents may be able to donate more than their own parents or that other parents have coworkers who will give money to the fundraiser. No matter how hard they try, they may never earn more than a child whose mother is PTA President and a nurse with a lot of coworkers. All they understand is that they tried hard, but it was not enough.
While many fundraisers instruct students only to sell to people they know, those instructions are not always followed, and some fundraisers place no such restriction. Children often look to their family and family friends for help with fundraisers. However, they often also seek out the assistance of neighbors, who are in many respects usually still strangers. Unsupervised children may walk for blocks, knocking at doors and putting themselves at possible risk. They have to cross streets and deal with passing cars, and they remain vulnerable to dangerous interactions with ill-intentioned adults.
The financial pressure put onto parents of children participating in fundraisers can be seen by their children. A parent who cannot afford to contribute to the fundraiser at the level of some other parents does not have to tell his child this directly in order for the child to understand. Other students may boast about the total funds they have raised thus far and mention the level of their parents' contribution. This makes the child whose parents cannot contribute painfully aware of her family's lower financial contribution compared to the other students.
Fundraisers that pit children against each other, rather than encouraging them to work together toward a collective goal, run the risk of negative character building. Although the child does not get to keep the money, he is awarded prizes based on the amount of money he raised. This fosters a sense of superiority or inferiority in the child that is linked to financial factors she cannot control. In addition, some fundraisers encourage children to see money as motivation. They are told to work hard to raise money so they can earn prizes and not so they can fund a new playground or sports equipment, which is what the money will actually buy. This type of fundraising supports dubious moral goals and reinforces various forms of discreet class and social discrimination.