Comparison

PTO Homeroom vs Membership Toolkit

0% on dues and store — but 3% on peer-to-peer fundraising, on top of the highest subscription in the category.

Pricing, side by side

Membership Toolkit tiers: Essential $550 · Premium $850 · Concierge $1,150. Billed yearly; no monthly option published.

What a $22,000 year actually nets

Assumes an average payment of $36.67 and that 55% of the total comes from your big fundraiser — the part vendors price differently. Both columns assume the group absorbs its own fees.

What to watch for with Membership Toolkit

• $550 to $1,150 every year

  Before a single dollar is raised. On a $22,000 year the Essential tier alone is 2.5% of everything you bring in.

• The add-on ladder is real

  Text messaging is $2.50/month plus 2¢ per text beyond a small annual allowance.

• The alternative processor is costlier than it looks

  Their PaySimple partner rate is interchange-plus with a $15.00/month software fee, a $5.95/month PCI fee and a 49¢ batch fee — roughly $252 a year on top of the subscription, before any card is charged.

• Whether fees can be passed to families isn't published

  We could find no vendor statement either way, so our comparison assumes the PTO absorbs them.

• Sponsors are sold into a printed directory

  Membership Toolkit's sponsor placement is ad space inside the directory PDF — a document the board prints once and parents rarely open. Homeroom puts each sponsor's logo, with a link, on the page every family opens all year and on the public bulletin, and counts the click-throughs so the board can show a sponsor exactly what it got. That is a placement a PTO can sell for more, because it is seen more.

• Fundraising is not fee-free

  Their peer-to-peer page states plainly: “Three percent of each donation up to $50,000 is collected to cover the costs of the fundraising tools.” Card processing applies on top.

Where Membership Toolkit is the better choice

We'd rather you pick the right tool than the one that wrote the comparison.

• 0% on everyday payments

  Dues, store and ticket payments really do carry no platform fee — only card processing. If most of your money moves that way rather than through a fundraiser, a flat subscription can beat a percentage. Run the numbers at your volume, not ours.

• A native app in the app stores

  Membership Toolkit ships an iOS and Android app. Homeroom installs from the browser to the home screen instead — no store listing.

• Store inventory tooling

  Per-item inventory and fulfillment for a spirit-wear store that holds stock. Homeroom's store sells items and options without stock tracking today.

• One login across organizations

  A parent with children at two schools on Membership Toolkit sees both from one account. Homeroom gives each school its own links.

• A paid concierge tier and fifteen years of templates

  Hands-on help at $1,150 a year, and a deep library of webinars and board-transition documents. Homeroom launched in 2026.

• Predictable budgeting

  One known annual line item is easier for some treasurers to plan around than a variable percentage.

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