My 527 Club meets monthly with about 50 people attending. We are
considering serving lunch at the meeting for $20 per person. The
restaraunt prefers that the Club pay for the lunch with one check for
$1000, as opposed to getting 50 different $20 checks.
Question: Since the members get full value for their payment, does the
$1000 collected from the members count toward our gross receipts for
IRS purposes. We are currently well below the $25,000 reporting limit
and would like to stay that way. Ten meetings a year at $1000 would
put us over the limit, if we have to count it in our gross receipts.

Maybe one member can collect the checks and issue a personal check for
$1000 (keeping out of club financing), but then the member ends up
with the problem of depositing the 50 checks, what the restaurant
wants to avoid, but your club is bringing it the business.  It really
shouldn't complain.  Maybe you can bargain for a discount, say, 5% of
the total bill  - a dollar a meal/check.  Bargaining is good, 'cause
it lets both sides have a say in deciding what the offer is worth.
If the restaurant thinks it is not worth anything, it can continue
accepting individual checks  - presupposing that it will accept a
personal check in that amount  - but it should from your crowd.

And if the restaurant agrees? - presupposing that it will accept a
personal check in that amount  - but it should from your crowd.  Do
you let the member keep the difference for his/her effort, pass the
discount on to the diners?  The latter, I would suggest.  The club's
bylaws may even preclude members' profiting from club activities. 
Maybe the check collecting could be passed around.

Lots of maybes ...

I realized we had all the alternatives that you mentioned, but you did
not answer my central question: Since the members receive full value
for the meal(it is not a contribution by any definition, is payment of
the bill by the Club deemed to be part of our gross receipts for IRS
purposes?  We would like to stay under the $25,000 reporting limit if
at all possible.

Putting it another way, if someone recevies full value for a Club
service, is payment deemed to be a contribution and therefore part of
Club gross receipts?

Yes, I was ducking that, sorry.  Here in Germany, ... different system.
Don't you have a CPA or tax lawyer amoung your members?

Realistically, the ultimate 'give away' is your bank account

It is the very first place an auditor looks.

If you want to fly below the radar, then keep the bank clean.

Personally I would select two harridans, give them each five groups of
five (inclusive) to harrass, each sub-harridan appoints five
enforcers, and collect the sum in cash.