Does this still happen, or have I been scammed by a couple of pre-teen Peter Fosters in the making?

I've had two groups of kids in the last couple of weeks. Both groups were made up of a few really young kids, maybe 5 or 6 years old, with one slightly older one who I guess was 'in charge'.  But in both cases, that kid didn't look older than 9 or 10 either.

We're relatively new to the area, so these kids don't know me.  We do have a school nearby though.  It's just that I haven't seen this for years at the place where I used to live.  It was common once and I always just handed over a donation.  I did so again, without really thinking about it.  But later I started to wonder if I should have done that.  Even if it is genuine, should I be encouraging kids to be knocking on a stranger's door by handing them money? My gut says NO!  I won't ever do that again, a sponsorship maybe, but not a cash donation.

I would have thought schools these days would discourage kids from approaching strangers, asking for money.  Surely they have online processes in place for that sort of thing.

And then there's Halloween, but I guess that's a whole other topic - or is it?  Much the same thing.