For schools that do not plan to hire a director, how can a school effectively run a successful alumni assocation with the current faculty/staff in place?

The recommendation so far, is to make the alumni membership free. However, can a nominal one-time fee be assessed to offset the initial cost? If the alumni member benefits exceed the cost, then I don't see why it would be a problem. For example: Movie theaters and restaurants charge an initial fee to be a member. Yet the benefits over time long outway the initial cost.