We also don't want our membership dues to be treated thought of as a fundraiser so what we've done this year is to impose a $5.00 membership cost per family which entitles that family to attend all our family fun nights free of charge.
It's worked out wonderfully and has increased our membership twofold.

I will probably get a little flack over this but I never did understand why you would want to charge someone for PTO fee's when they are volunteering their time to help your school/children. We do not charge anything to be a member and have found that it works better this way.

I imagine you'll get a variety of answers that fall within that range. We don't see membership as a fundraiser per se, but we want to encourage the act/committment of joining. Our dues are $3 per family per year. As a perk, every member gets a free copy of the school student directory when it's published. Those normally sell for $3.

During a Fall membership drive, we have a contest to see which class gets the most members. The winning class earns a snow cone party so the kids really encourage their parents to join.

Our PTO is starting over from years of non-activity. In the past the PTO has done well in fundraising. The By-laws state we can charge dues but no amount is listed. I have had suggestions ranging from "Free" to $10.00. Any suggestions?