// Club Dues
How much to charge, which payment processor to use, how to automate renewals so your treasurer is not chasing people in April, and what to do when a member just stops paying.
The classic club dues story: dues are due in January. It's April. Half the club hasn't paid. The treasurer is chasing people at meetings with a PayPal link and a spreadsheet that has not been updated since October. Three members are quietly upset because they paid in January and don't understand why the deadbeats still RSVP.
This is solvable. It is also entirely a software problem, not a people problem — clubs that run their dues on a real system don't have this conversation, and clubs that run them out of email and PayPal always do.
// The Process
List every expense the club will have for the year: insurance, website, web hosting, club platform, event costs, charity giving, swag. Sum it. Divide by your realistic active member count. That number is the floor.
If the math says $67, charge $75. The round number is easier to remember and the buffer covers the year you guessed wrong. Anything between $50 and $120/year is normal for a small off-road club.
Stripe for most clubs. Square if you also sell physical things at events. Avoid using anyone's personal Venmo — it creates tax and audit problems. Open a business checking account in the club's name for the deposits.
Either calendar-year (everyone renews January 1) or rolling (each member renews on their join anniversary). Calendar-year is simpler to administer; rolling spreads the work evenly. Pick one and write it down.
Members should not have to remember. Send a renewal reminder 30 days before the due date, again at 7 days, again on the due date. Then a friendly nudge at +15 days and +30 days. Manual reminders fail because the treasurer is busy.
Put it in writing before you need it. Most clubs use a 30–60 day grace period, then membership lapses (removed from active roster, cannot RSVP, retains login but loses member benefits). Reinstatement is one click + payment.
// What To Charge
Public membership pages from established U.S. off-road clubs cluster around these ranges:
If you are starting out, the honest answer is usually $50–$75. You can raise dues later; lowering them is harder than it sounds.
// Payment Options
| Factor | Stripe | Square | PayPal | Venmo (personal) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Card fees (typical) | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.99% + $0.49 | ~3% (instant) |
| Automated recurring billing | Strong | Strong | OK | No |
| ACH / bank debit | Yes (0.8%) | Limited | Yes | No |
| Dispute / chargeback support | Strong | OK | Buyer-favored | None |
| 1099-K reporting handled | Yes | Yes | Yes | Personal-acct issue |
| Good for clubs? | Yes | Yes | OK | Don't |
// Late Payers
The single biggest mistake clubs make is treating each late payment as a one-off, manual, awkward conversation. The fix is to make the process routine and impersonal.
// FAQs
Most off-road clubs charge between $25 and $150 per year per member. The right number is the one that covers your annual expenses (insurance, website, events) divided by your active member count. If you cannot point to specific costs, you are probably charging too much — or too little to fund what you actually need.
Annual is dramatically simpler — one invoice, one collection cycle, one renewal date. Monthly works only if you have software that handles the recurring billing automatically; manually invoicing 40 members 12 times a year is how treasurers burn out.
Stripe and Square are the two real options for clubs. Both charge ~2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Stripe has better recurring-payment automation and ACH support; Square has slightly better in-person payments if you also sell at events. PayPal works but its dispute process favors buyers heavily.
Technically yes, but: there is no automated reconciliation, no audit trail beyond a personal account, and IRS reporting (Form 1099-K) now applies above modest thresholds. For a small unincorporated club, it works. For anything else, it creates more work than it saves.
Set a written grace period (30–60 days) and what happens at the end (membership lapsed, removed from the active roster, cannot RSVP). Automate the reminders so the treasurer is not the bad guy. Make reinstatement easy — most lapsed members just forgot.
Not necessarily. Many clubs use a member's join date as their renewal anniversary (rolling renewals), which spreads the treasurer's work across the year. Calendar-year renewals are simpler conceptually but front-load all the chasing into January–February.
Almost never. Even for clubs with 501(c)(3) status, the IRS treats member dues as payment for services, not charitable contributions. The exception is clubs with 501(c)(7) status, where dues are not deductible to the giver but are tax-free income to the club. Talk to a CPA.
Yes if you want couples and families in the club. The clean structure is a primary membership + a discounted spouse/partner add-on (typically 25–50% off the primary rate), and free kids under 16. Avoid "family" tiers that try to count children — they get messy.
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