My web page has generated 
some questions on starting an AAU team. The following are some
things that I have found out from speaking with various folks
and some of my intial experiences.  If you have experience
and some tips, advice, email me and I will add the info.
Well this is definitely a do-it-yourself project.  Hopefully
your district AAU contact will be more helpful than ours here
in Ohio.  Basically you are on your own.  This was my first
year with AAU (initial draft in 1997).  Here is what we have done or 
are working on.
Money -
You need $$ from parents and (hopefully) a sponsor(s)
You need $$ for reversible jerseys and
team/individual entries into the AAU/AAU state tourney if you want to go.
You need $$ for other tournaments.
You need to find a local high school coach who can help get you into
a gym unless you can rent gym time from a YMCA/youth organization.
So a gym can cost $$ as well.
Sources of funds:  Candy bar sales; car washes; free
throw nights (your team signs up X number of people 
who pay 5 or 10 cents per free throw made or a lump sum
of say $5 - $10. Sponsors! You can host tournaments, but I would
advise starting small + maybe waiting until you have
been active for awhile to see how other clubs handle tournaments.
It can be a source of funds - but needs to be done right
to have teams come back.
Refs - Your local high school coach/AD can help with this. Even for a 
scrimmage, I would have refs.   
Schedule - You need to get a list of teams from your AAU district and 
call other coaches to schedule games/find tourneys.  Most teams
go from weekend tourney to weekend tourney.  But if you
find local teams, you may be able to pick up some games/
scrimmages.   
Recruit players - Attend a lot of games, get a business
card to hand out, talk to parents of potential players at halftime.  
Also contact junior high or high school coaches.
There are probably plenty of details that I left out but that is
the start of a checklist.
National AAU 407-934-7200
AAU
c/o Walt Disney World Resorts
PO Box 10,000
Lake Buena Vista, FL  32830-1000
Good Luck

Side note:you can participate at various levels. This is a bit simplistic
but here is what I have found: 

1). Non-AAU teams: Some teams we are playing are not even part of AAU, they just play 
pickup games and go to a handful of smaller/less competitive tourneys.  
To me, it makes sense to join an organization like AAU just for the insurance
if nothing else. 

2). mid-tier AAU teams: Other teams are like us and go to a mix of both competitive and small
tourneys. In Indiana these are sometimes known as 'school teams'.  They 
generally recruit from a smaller or rural geograhic area.But can still
be fairly competitive.
3). Elite AAU teams: Finally there are the elite teams - these are the ones that recruit 
heavily and compete in only the elite tourneys.  It is worth the price of
admission to see some of these teams play.  They have both excellent coaches
and excellent players.  

Although the emphasis of AAU is playing the best basketball, there is 
room for beginning or less competitive teams to start out if you ask 
around and schedule wisely.  
If I had it all to do all over again:
I would have started about 3 years ago.  AAU starts at
the 10 and under age division.  This was our girls (13u in 1997) first year
of playing at this level.  Many of the girls we play against
have been doing AAU ball since they were 10.  So there is a
disparity in both experience and skill when we go against experienced
teams.  Even though some of the girls came from some good junior high
teams - this is the first year they played as a team and also the first
time at this level of competition.  But we had to start somewhere and 
although we struggle at times, we are hanging in there. So the younger
you start the better off you are.
Now: My older daughter is concentrating on running and is joining
a USTFA team and may even forego next basketball season. My
Youngest daughter is ready for a 10u team and we are both
going to join a local club the SURGE in Dayton, OH.  It
is a big hassle to get gym time locally and I can concentrate
more on coaching rather than fund raising, scheduling gym,
time, etc.  The organization handles most of these duties.
Original draft in 1997 - revised slightly in 1999