The Lowdown on Meetup Group Fees, Member Dues and Event Fees

While Organizers pay the Monthly Group Fees, there are many ways Meetup Organizers are covering these fees. With tools integrated into your group you can collect Membership Dues and Event Fees from your group members to share the cost of the Group Fee. These monies can also be used to improve the group's events or cover other group-incurred costs. Ultimately, the establishment, collection, and administration of these dues and fees is completely up to you, the group Organizer.

The Meetup Organizer Community has come up with some creative ideas on how to raise funds for their groups. Take a look at a few of these ideas and read more about deciding to charge fees to help you determine what works best for your group!

• Getting a Group Sponsor: St Louis Boardgames Meetup connected with Dragon Talon Games.


• “Passing the hat” at the Meetup: Cooking and Dining Meetup – NYC collected $28 at their Meetup of 20 people.


• Collecting Membership Dues: New York City Motherless Daughters Group set up $10 annual dues.


• Setting an Event Fee: Executive Networking & Technology Group ExecTec of LA uses event fees to make arrangements ahead of time with restaurants.


• Turning to the Venues: The Greenville Dungeons & Dragons Meetup Group "There are a number of stores that sell D&D gaming products. I can ask them all to sponsor a month at a time."


• Voluntary Group Donations: The Brisbane Goth Meetup Group set up a suggested donation of AUD $10.


• Selling Advertising: “Rather than charge our members to cover the new MeetUp fees, we are going to sell ad space in our newsletter. By doing this, it keeps our members happy and will also cover the cost of the newsletter that I design and print out each month.” Medina, Organizer of The Miami Bellydance Meetup Group.

Deciding to Charge Dues or Fees with Established Groups

This is a big decision, and if you have an established group, you will likely want to discuss the matter of event fees or membership dues with your members first. Send them an email, start a poll, and/or a message board discussion. However, the best way to do this will likely be at your group's next Meetup, where everyone can discuss the matter face-to-face. You'll probably find their input invaluable in shaping your decisions. You can also go the Organizer Forum and find out how other Organizers are handling fee, dues, etc. And, of course, you can always contact Meetup Support with any questions or concerns. We'll be happy to help in any way we can.

You may also want to see this article, Member Fees -- Charging by the Event or per Member?

Deciding to Charge Fees with New Groups

If you're pioneering a Meetup Group, it will be easier to set ground rules on Membership Dues or Event Fees that will carry forward as your groups grows. However, in all likelihood you'll be underwriting the group for a while in order to keep costs more affordable for your members.

To quote one organizer, Joel Ordesky, who's had a paying group for a long time:

Some weeks I am positive and some I am negative (tip is not included) depending on the mix of people paying paypal and those paying full ticket. I have negotiated with the restaurant to drop the price slightly if I can break a certain average attendance.

Ultimately I am underwriting the group at the start since I feel charging more would hurt my attendance and once the attendance grows I will recoup some of my losses.

Some Stuff to Keep in Mind

The heart of any question that involves the charging of fees is value.

You should be clear about the costs that you are covering, and the value that you are offering to your group in exchange for those costs. Joel is clear about the costs that he covers, and the value this gives back to the group:

Basically I am just covering my cost for what the restaurant charges me. I am charged $20 per head (all in with tax) for each person. There is a general fixed price meal of: salad, pasta dish (chicken parm, chicken ravioli, eggplant parm, etc), Pizza by the slice, any drink in the house with refills (no alcohol license so that is not a problem) and dessert (cheese cake, mouse cake, etc). They are very flexible with substitutions for people with diet issues (i.e. no cheese or dairy).

I could have made the dinner a separate check event but then it would have been very disruptive with everyone ordering and dealing with bills. This way people sit down and are served with little or no fuss as if they were a guest at my house and I think that lends a lot to the event and people's comfort with attending.

We think any Membership Dues and Event Fees should be kept as fair as possible. If you want to just cover the Group Fee, divide the cost by the number of group members. If you want to make the group better, make sure to explain to your members how the extra funds will be used. For example, you may want to charge a bit up-front (25% or so) to build up a small buffer in case there’s a slow month. Another possibility to consider is posting a monthly “accounting” of how money came in and was spent on the group's message board. That way, your members will understand the higher fee and be more willing to give.

Dues and fees should also be clearly communicated to current and potential group members. This can be done with the Group Welcome Message that goes out to new members (see Creating a Welcome Message), as well as any messages that group members receive regarding events. Aside from that, you can always display this information in a message board post and in the description of your group on your group's About page. Whichever way, just make sure the fee is fair and well publicized so group members don't feel caught off guard.

In the end, all these decisions are up to you, the Organizer. The above are just some general ideas/guidelines we feel are good rules of thumb. You may want/need to run things differently. That's perfectly fine. Each group's situation will be different.