Our guild does make guests pay a small amount when there is a guest speaker that the guild has paid to speak. We've seen a lot of great nationally known people that way and they are costly to get, most of the time so that seems fair.
Our guild is also trying to welcome new people more than in the past. Our new members wear a special ribbon to identify themselves. We have about 130 members but people don't make it to every meeting.
The best way I found to get to know people when I first joined was to take a few classes, sign up to volunteer on a project and go to the annual retreat. The first year I went to the retreat I hardly knew anyone but I had a ball and met people who became good friends.
Good luck~