President Jim Stynes had set an initial December target of 15,000 members, but told the Herald Sun that figure was already eclipsed.
"We are over the moon. We have crashed through the 15,000 mark and we are heading to 17,000," Stynes said.
"People have been really responsive, all the members, including MCC members. The whole club has really banded together.
The figure is an improvement on last December, when the Demons had signed around 12,000 members. But Stynes stressed that Melbourne's off-field battle was still ongoing and urged supporters to sign up and break last season's club record of 29,619 members.
"People are starting to understand that it is going to take a bit of time to get back up there, but they are willing to have a bit of patience and they believe in the vision that we have," he said.
"This is a defining period in our history of whether we survive or don't survive. These figures are great, but we are not out of the woods by a long shot."
"Our target is to break through 30,000. We have never been able to do that in our history," he said.
Over the last six months, the Stynes-led Debt Demolition campaign has raised about $3 million, with an extra $2 million in funding coming from the AFL and Melbourne Cricket Club.
