Each year, MFS member schools must commit to both membership dues of $1,000 dollars and to contributions of between $1,500 and $2,500, depending upon the number of schools participating in the consortium. The membership dues cover the cost of accommodation for a total of 4 participants a year at the four MFS Institutes. The fundraising fee, as elaborated below, helps to cover the consortium's operating costs.

The financial underpinnings of the MFS have evolved over the last thirty years. The MFS has generally been funded by an even division of costs between the University of Chicago, MFS member colleges, and an external funder. Funding has been provided by the Lilly Endowment 1975-79 and 1987-95) and the Mellon Foundation (1979-87 and 1995-present).

Direct support from Mellon ended in 1998. In our current grant, the Mellon Foundation challenged the MFS to establish a network of funders located in the regions where MFS colleges reside; Mellon agreed to match these funds on a 1:2 basis. When we first received our challenge grant from the Mellon Foundation in 1994, we had hoped to receive help from member institutions in appealing to local foundations and, in turn, that these local foundations would provide all the matching funds required by the grant. This plan failed and we found ourselves $55,000 short of our goal in 1998. In order to save the campaign, we appealed directly to our member schools to make up this difference. Thirty-seven schools responded, and we successfully met the first deadline of our challenge grant, raising $100,000 in order to realize the first $50,000 of matching funds.

In order to continue MFS programs, the consortium needs member schools to contribute a total sum that will be between $2,500 and $3,500 depending upon the number of member schools participating. When coupled with Mellon's matching grant, the revenue from fundraising dues will just cover the actual yearly costs of running the MFS programs. The MFS Deans' Taskforce on Fundraising felt that such a sum was still low enough to make it feasible for the least wealthy of our member institutions to continue their membership in the consortium without undue burden.