In a previous article, Andrew Gideon said:
Paul Tomblin wrote:
No, it means that your monthly fees include an upgrade reserve.

How much? We've an avionics upgrade fund, but even that wasn't easy to get

I think we're aiming at $30,000 a year. That pays for a new engine and a
prop overhaul when we need it, and if we go a year without needing one of
those, we get a stormscope or a paint job or something. We were
considering GPS options when we got hit with this insurance problem on our
Lance. The Lance needs a new engine, but it's hardly worth putting
$30,000 into it if the insurance companies are going to get even more
chicken next year and refuse to insure it at all.

Growing the membership is one avenue open to a club using our
(share/equity-base) model. But I'm interested in how such a club can fund
upgrades independent of increasing membership.

Like I said, by making sure the monthly fees have an upgrade reserve.

The other local club at our field
does an equity thing, and it costs $32,000 to join. And when they
increased the fleet to 4 aircraft, every one of them got hit with an
additional assessment.

That's seems quite high. Do you know their member/aircraft ratio?

Last time I checked, it was 24 members and 4 planes, including a Lance.
They also have t-hangers for each plane, so their monthly dues are about
double ours.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"Orcs killed: none. Disappointing. Stubble update: I look rugged and
manly. Yes! Keep wanting to drop-kick Gimli. Holding myself back. Still
not King." - the very secret diary of Aragorn son of Arathron