I'm going to change the title of this post because I think there might be a better way to think about this.
What is there were a special type of field that you could put on application forms - a CALCULATED field - which would work similar to an extra cost field?
When applying, the applicant would enter a number to a field that you have either assigned a (a) percentage (like in JayBuys case above, or for tithing) or (b) a multiple (pay $10 for each employee in your organization).
You could make your membership level "free" then and have all your membership fees determined by the values they've entered.
Giuliano Valentino, Useful Apricot