That's pretty much the rationale of clubs that I belong to. Existing members have a considerable investment in improvements like providing for a paved runway, and initiation fees are seen as new members contributing some partial measure of their fair share in the investment. It isn't a one time investment as the need for maintenance is continuing, but the rationale is not a constant, depending on changes in priorities......one of the clubs has seen a fairly dramatic fall in membership over the past few years, and the initiation fee has been waived in the interest of attracting new members.