For band & ensemble treasurers
Dues collection software that already knows your roster
Members pay online by bank transfer or card — or hand you a check at rehearsal. Every dollar lands in one ledger, prorated by join date, reconciled against the roster automatically. Money goes straight to your organization's own bank account.
90-day free trial · No credit card · Backstage Baton never takes a cut of your dues
Dues season shouldn't mean a shoebox and a spreadsheet
Every volunteer treasurer knows the routine. Checks handed over between warm-up and downbeat. A Venmo screenshot forwarded from the president. Cash in an envelope marked “dues — Dave.”
Then comes the reconciliation: the bank statement in one window, the roster spreadsheet in another, and an hour of matching names to deposits. Who paid? Who joined in March and owes a prorated amount nobody has calculated? Who quietly gave an extra $50 that should be thanked — and acknowledged properly at tax time?
Generic payment tools don't help, because the hard part of dues was never the payment — it's the reconciliation. Venmo and Square give you a transaction feed. Your roster lives somewhere else. You are the join between the two, every single season.
Backstage Baton's dues collection is built the other way around: dues are a property of the roster, not a bolted-on payment. The member list, the amounts owed, the proration, the payments, and the report the board wants — one system, already connected.
From assessment to board report, without a spreadsheet
Set up your dues in minutes
Define the season: amount, billing period, and how mid-season joiners are prorated (by month or quarter, from each member's join date — calculated automatically). One click assesses every active musician. Alumni and honorary members are skipped automatically.
Members pay the way they actually pay
Each member sees what they owe on their phone or from a link in their email — no app install, no login required. They pay online by bank transfer or card, or tap “I'll bring a check” and the system tells them who to make it out to. You record cash and checks in one click, and it all lands in the same ledger.
Money goes to YOUR bank account
Online payments run through your organization's own Stripe account — a one-time, ~10-minute setup hosted by Stripe. Funds settle directly to your band's bank account. Backstage Baton never holds your money and never takes a cut of your dues.
The who's-paid report writes itself
A live dashboard shows percent collected, who's outstanding and for how long, how members are paying, and a collection curve for the board packet. Export to CSV whenever the board asks. No reconciliation hour. No shoebox.
The processing-fee math your board will appreciate
Backstage Baton steers members toward bank transfer (ACH) — Stripe's rate is 0.8%, capped at $5. Cards cost 2.9% + 30¢. On community-band dues, that difference is real money.
| $50 dues paid by… | Processing fee | Your band keeps |
|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer (ACH) | $0.40 | $49.60 |
| Card | $1.75 | $48.25 |
| Cash or check | $0 | $50.00 (recorded in the same ledger) |
Across a 60-member band at $50 dues, collecting by ACH instead of card saves roughly $80 a season in fees — and either way beats juggling a personal Venmo account, which violates Venmo's terms for organizational use. Fees are Stripe's standard published rates, paid by your organization; Backstage Baton adds nothing on top. You can also choose to have members cover the exact processing fee at checkout, so the band nets face value on every payment.
The $200 check for $135 dues, handled correctly
Community band members are generous. They round up. They add a little extra “for the band.” That generosity deserves better than being lumped into the dues line.
Record a $200 check against $135 dues and Backstage Baton books it as $135 dues + $65 donation — automatically, on the same check number. That split matters: dues generally aren't tax-deductible (members receive membership for them), but genuine donations can be. Blend them and your donors lose the paper trail; keep them separate and everyone wins.
Members can also give any amount online, or add a donation on top of their dues payment in a single transaction. And in January, the treasurer clicks once to send every donor an IRS-ready year-end donation statement — itemized gifts, the required acknowledgment language, your EIN — by email, with a printable batch for members who prefer paper. If your organization is a 501(c)(3), donor letters stop being a January chore.
The IRS requires a written acknowledgment for any single gift of $250 or more — without one, the donor can't claim the deduction. A payment-app receipt doesn't qualify.
Where dues fit in the bigger picture
Frequently asked questions
Does Backstage Baton hold our money?
No — and that's by design. Online payments are direct charges on your organization's own Stripe account: members pay, funds settle to your band's bank account on Stripe's standard payout schedule. Backstage Baton orchestrates the payment and records the result; the money never passes through us, and we never take a percentage of your dues.
What does it cost to collect dues this way?
Backstage Baton charges nothing per transaction — dues collection is included in the Complete plan. Your organization pays Stripe's standard processing fees: 0.8% capped at $5 for bank transfers (ACH), 2.9% + 30¢ for cards. Cash and checks are free to record. You can also have members cover the exact processing fee at checkout.
We're a 501(c)(3) — do we get Stripe's nonprofit rate on dues?
Honest answer: no. Stripe's discounted nonprofit pricing requires that the large majority of your volume be tax-deductible donations, and membership dues are explicitly excluded — that's true on every platform, not just ours. It's also why the ACH rate matters: at 0.8% capped at $5, bank transfer is the cheapest realistic rail for dues anywhere.
Half our members pay by check at rehearsal. Does that still work?
It's a first-class feature, not a workaround. Members can tap “I'll bring a check” and see exactly who to make it out to; the treasurer records it in one click with the check number. Cash, check, bank transfer, and card all land in the same ledger and the same who's-paid report. Nobody is forced online — ever.
How does proration work for members who join mid-season?
You choose the rule per dues product: no proration, by month, or by quarter. The amount is calculated from each member's join date automatically — someone who joins in month 7 of an annual season owes 6/12 of full dues under monthly proration. You can override any individual assessment, and waive dues entirely (with a reason on record) for hardship cases.
What do members need to install to pay?
Nothing. Every member gets a personal payment link that works in any browser from any email — no app, no account, no password. They can pay by bank transfer or card, or declare they'll bring cash or a check. Members who use the Backstage Baton portal see the same options on their Dues & Payments page, with a reminder banner on their home screen until it's handled.
Can we collect more than dues — uniform fees, trip payments, donations?
Yes. Dues are one product type; you can also define one-time fees (trip, uniform), items for sale (polos, method books), and donation funds. Everything runs through the same rails and the same ledger, and donations are always tracked separately from dues for clean tax reporting.
Which plan includes dues collection?
The Complete plan. The 90-day free trial includes full Complete access, so you can set up dues, connect your Stripe account, and run a real collection cycle before paying anything.
Retire the shoebox before next dues season
90-day free trial with full access. Set up dues, connect your bank, and run a real collection cycle — checks welcome — before paying a dime.