Yes, I find these things to be annoying, not only b/c I'm asked to contribute so often, but also b/c I'm often the one who has been deemed the person to do the collecting.
The company takes care of flowers or gift basket for the new babies, hospital/very sick situations, and the deaths. Birthdays are up to the manager to do, and don't even think of expensing it!
That typically leaves the baby showers, weddings, retirements and the sickness funding. I handle this over e-mail, explaining what the collection is for, and offering various ways of paying for it. As a result, you can Google Pay, Zelle, QuickPay, Paypal, Venmo, Cash of Check me, and I'll get it all together into a gift card for Target, Amazon, Some sort of food delivery service or if the recipient tells me exactly where they want to spend it, I'll accommodate that request. There's also a card at my desk, and you are welcome to sign it. It's inferred that you sign only if you donate, but it's on my desk, and I'm not policing. I've had people donate anywhere from $3-$100 in the same collection, and while I keep track just to make sure I've collected the correct dollar amounts from the various payment sources, the recipient is not given a list of who contributed what.
Sometimes I prefer not to donate cash, like when someone else is hosting a baby shower. I prefer to buy a cute token gift at a great price, and I wrap it up and give it to the person doing the collection, to present at the baby shower, which I also do not attend. I like the idea of giving the recipient a few things to open at the party, and it goes over really well, so that's how I control it.
We recently had a situation where a co-worker was diagnosed w/stage 4 cancer, and we did both a collection for her, and we requested time off donations. We have both PTO and sick time. PTO doesn't carry over and cannot be donated, but sick time carries over and can be donated. I have more time than I can ever use, so I happily donated 40 hours to cover the first week where disability would not cover it. Our company policy also requires that all other available time be used before a donation can be accepted, but since you are always accruing the time, it was impossible to get her to 0.00 hours. As such, my 40 hours were never approved to gift over to her, and no one else was able to contribute, which sucked, as she was out for months. She's in remission now, thankfully. My company also has a fund where you can donate excess time for anyone who needs it, so on my way out, I'll donate all remaining sick time there, and hopefully someone in need can utilize the gift.
In terms of birthdays, one spendy person in my dept always wants to make a big deal when our manager's birthday rolls around. I know that some of the people in my department don't have excess funds to waste like she apparently does, so I always step up to manage the situation. Manager's birthday is right around mother's day, and Costco has good sales on gift baskets, many of which have floral themes that don't specifically call out Mother's Day, so every year I present the team with 3 options, they vote on which one to order, and I have it delivered to her office on her birthday, and they reimburse me for the $6-8 share.