In a previous article, (Defly) said:
First of all - define "club". Is this a company or individual who owns an/some
aircraft and sells you (membership fee) the right to fly his aircraft or is
this a partnership where you are actually purchasing a share of the aircraft.
Ours is the latter and I wouldn't, personally, join the former.

Why not? Our club operates that way - it's a limited liability company,
but you become a stockholder in the company (but not with a share of the
planes) for your $795 non-refundable initiation fee. The club bylaws
specify that if the company is dissolved, the money from selling the
assets goes to charity, not to the members. Unlike the local share club,
we have never had an assessment on our members in our 48 years of
operation - all maintenance expenses and capital upgrades are financed
through the monthly fees. We've also never made a member pay the
deductable for an insurance claim, even if it was their fault. (Only one
flying accident in that time - about 25 years ago a guy flipped a Cessna
on landing about 2000 miles from home. The club sold the plane "as is" to
a local dealer and bought a local replacement.)

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began
to suspect 'Hungry' ..."
-- Gary Larson, "The Far Side"