I used to be a member some time ago (1991) and I thought the place was a brilliant club. It's members flew, had social events ("Formal - from the waist up" a charity event I attended), drank in the bar, had fly-ins etc. It also had excellent and very professional instructors. It was an excellent club and even Pommies were felt welcome.
But even then, there was a certain element of commercial aviation which compromised the members interests. Basically, "for the benefit of the members," a few fully IFR twins were purchased for non-instructional duties, ostensibly for private hire. But only a few members got their hands on them. The few that did had to be in the "inner circle" or the club within the club because they were the senior instructors who were able to do the charter work - which had to be done to pay for the wretched things. There was virtually no benefit for the members in having these private hire/charter twins.
Then the level of commercial operations was so low that there was little associated liability. The problem with having a commercial arm within a club is that the members end up providing its capital, subsiding it or under-writing it's losses. Remember, a club is where the shareholders are the customers as well. Unfortunately, as the commercial operation expands, the members' liabilities also grow and if the management are not careful will threaten the very existence of the club. A classic example of this was with the club at Launceston. They bought a Grand Commander "for the members" but to pay for it, took on an early morning newspaper run. Not surprisingly there were penalties associated with non-preformance so when their aircraft went tech. they had to sub-charter, at a huge cost. Also, just to make sure the aircraft didn't get broken in club use, members weren't allowed to hire it. Some benefit!
So where am I going? Well it is vital for each club to remember why it is exists. It for the benefit of its members. It is only a business in so far as has to balance its books so that it can stay around to provide services for it's members. An aero club is not there to be a charter operator, search and rescue organisation or airline. By all means provide spare aircraft and maintenance to third parties, but make sure that when these activities are undertaken, the associated liabilities are well understood.
PM