I can't give you a club president's perspective, but I can give you a 3 year member's perspective of one that has been around for around 20 years. This is a jon-boat club who fishes primarliy electric only reservoirs about 8-9 months of the year (biweekly), and a few state parks that have a 10hp limit. Average turnout is probably 20-25 boats. We happen to have at least 4-5 other clubs that are successful as well.
In my opinion, some of the reasons it has been successful is this:
1. Affordability ($25 entry with 100% payback.) There is an annual membership fee (I think another $25 at the beginning of the year) The membership fee goes to pay for the website maintenance, new scales/weigh-in bags when needed, and is used as a payout at the end of the year for a top 5 fish off.
2. We alternated between 7 or so lakes for each tourney, which to me levels the playing field quite a bit as opposed to only fishing one lake.
3. End of the year honors. Some kind of points system that rewards participation for the entire season.
4. Sponsorships help. Sometimes the end of the year honors is a shot at $500 bucks or so, and sometimes it's a new jon boat.
5. A website
The club has a meeting every year before the season starts to allow anyone to contribute to rule changes, lakes fished (and when), and an open forum for discussing anything relevant to the club, which I think all helps with participation as well. Lastly, it may be enough of the right people need to know about it, which becomes a marketing issue.
Hope this helps.