things that have put clubs out of operation in my experience:
infighting
lack of programs
lack of communication
lack of leadership
lack of vision

Templates are good, PSA offers lots of advice to start.
Leadership is probably the most important part of all of this. it is also potentially the worst of all of it.
Start with something simple. arrange to use a venue that is cheap or free. sometimes the meeting halls in public libraries and sometimes schools or churches work. churches for a meeting place often will chase off members.

know your locale, have someone that knows some other locales and knows the right people and has some sense and etiquette to prearrange everything needed for field trips.

find local photographers in various facets of the profession to be speakers on occasion. call around and see if there are traveling pros in the area that might be willing to speak. some of these people will want a fee for their speeches, so find out up front.

consider indoor or close-to-home programs like an organized critique night, or occasionally do a workshop instead of a field trip that focuses on something like posing, or off-camera lighting, or macro photography, or tabletop photography of products for e-bay/Craigslist ads. maybe demos on using common post processing apps like Photoshop Elements and Paintshop Pro. this does not have to be complicated and it's better if they are applicable to something close to home.

You will find that having a computer and digital projector or big TV is valuable and it may be a good thing to consider if one venue offer the use of such technology for little cost.

a web site is not a requirement up front, yahoo or google group sites can be used but it is worth investing in a commercial list server service like mailermailer or constant contact.

have some goals. it's ok to not meet every goal, but if you have none at all you will fail at that too. confusing, but more often than not, it's true.

get to know every camera shop and photo printer within 50 miles. even if they won't back you, they will often be willing to share good opportunities and places to shoot. also talk to the newspapers and if your town is famous for anything even if it is the cactus thorn festival, get to know those folks and let your club be the go-to group to record the event. if they have a festival let them add an art or photography competition and be ready to do the submissions processing and judging. the more involved you are not he community, the more the community gets involved with you.

Good Luck.