also @gortex2 I saw your replies this morning and didn't think I'd respond. But I decided it is tangentially related to the thread topic. So, I'll take a stab at further explanation. Nothing here will be citing regs or legal precedence, so if that is what you expect, just skip this. I do not have a repeater and do not intend to research or see any personal benefit from researching the legal issues; I'll leave that to those involved.
I know people on both sides of the issue. I know at least one (maybe another) who pays for some of his HAM repeater tower usage. He doesn't take donations that I know of, and it isn't a typical club (there is a loose organization that is the primary user). And I've been told or heard discussions by several hams all the way back to when I started that the repeater tower owners can't charge for HAM usage. Similar to what 935 said above, I know of one club repeater on a commercial tower on the coast where emergency use by non-profit organizations is a major factor. [Emergency use and public benefit are the main reasons HAM is supposed to be non-commercial/non-profit.] And this tower owner, according to club members, told them they would not be allowed to do any maintenance on the cable and antenna and that when it fails they're done. The tower owner wants to sell the space to commercial users that pay (or pay more). The way it was stated by the club members is the tower owner did not want it there because they could not charge for it (or maybe charge as much as the commercial users).
It's possible that the differences in the two views is how things are being stated. It is true, at least in my area, that repeater owners can't charge HAMs to use their repeaters. All the HAM repeaters I am familiar with are open to any licensed HAM, except an individual who has been singled out and banned but that's off-topic. I have seen listings for private HAM repeaters on Repeaterbook but I have never used or had any further info on those. Although clubs maintain many of the repeaters, I don't know of any (other than those private ones) where club membership is required for use. So, since the repeater owners can't charge users, the repeater owners may be telling the tower owners they can't pay or can't afford the full commercial fee. But I also know of cases where a prospective repeater owner told the tower owner the tower owners weren't allowed to charge for allowing installation of HAM repeaters. No reg/law was ever cited in any of what I heard as far as I recall.
That's different from GMRS where private, members only repeaters are common. But even with GMRS, I've never seen or heard what the fees actually are. Most of us pay dues (if we choose) without knowing what the costs of operation are. If it is all non-profit, the financing should be made available. I don't know if understanding the differences in this between HAM and GMRS would be helpful or just add to the confusion.