At my husband's first "real" job they adopted a family. Which was REALLY hard for us, because we made less than they did (the needy family, that is, since we got a 'card' all about them)! $20 may not be a lot to some people but that was our grocery budget for the week! Including diapers! The receptionist made less than my husband and was a single mom. We had to scrimp and save, and I know she did, and the added expense... oy. I remember crying when I had to choose not to buy the turkey I was planning on and had been saving to in order to meet the company "minimum" donation OR have my husband be "pitied" at work (not a good career move). Even $5 would have been hard for us. But excluding my husband and the secretary everyone else at the 50 person office made 80-150k. Even so, several were deep in debt for various reasons (this was at the end of the last recession, with some people having been out of work for over a year), and were scrimping to make their own kids have a christmas when their mortgages and bills were swamping them.
Especially these days, where people are often in the same boat, aka... dead broke, or struggling to catch up... having a mandatory "spend money" on anything at work can create problems for those who are barely keeping their heads above water.
The following few years were the most AMAZING company xmas's I've ever experienced. The COMPANY (his old company was bought out by a Mormon group) gave gifts to everyone. They had this giant pile of wrapped gifts that people could bid on with monopoly money that the company provided. After they were opened, you could trade, sell, or just grin and say "Mine! I'm sooooo not trading this one!" between others who had gifts. No rules. Sort it out amongst yourselves. Number wise, there were 3 per employee. About 2/3s were home-type gifts (ikea down comforters, mixers, cutting boards, dirt devil, tools, home spa, type... the kind you can get from Ikea or Costco/Sams Club) and 1/3 were total kid gifts (6 barbies all together, lego sets, etc.). The financial person and I spoke later. For the 150 gifts, she had a budget of 5k to spend. They could have just written all of the employees a $100 check, but this turned it into a very fun/festive affair. The COMPANY also adopted a foster family, and for 1k tricked out their christmas. They took the tax deduction as a charitable donation. Best company xmas's ever.