Small and recently started-up organizations find it hard to acquire external capital from financial institutions, such as banks, venture capitalists and private investors. Information asymmetry is the main reason behind this financial gap, from both a demand-side and supply-side standpoint. However, small organizations and start-ups do not need financiers to launch themselves, and the solution to the financial shortages is not necessarily by financial means. By being creative, resources can be acquired through different means, known in research as financial bootstrapping. Previous studies have been focusing on bootstrapping application in companies, and have not included any kind of associations in their investigations. This thesis aims to enlighten the area of bootstrapping usage in associations while comparing similarities and differences with companies. The thesis will also provide a base of knowledge for the collaboration company Coompanion, who requested to increase their understanding within the area of financial bootstrapping. A survey was conducted and 44 responses were received with a mixture of companies and associations. The survey included questions regarding the organizational profile, personal profile and handling of finance. The interactive questionnaire was distributed to the managers by email and the data gathered from the respondents was inserted and analyzed using Excel, SPSS and Gretl. The results demonstrate that organizations prefer internally generated money as a first resort before using external finance, consequently following the theories of pecking order. Organizations that need more capital are inclined to use more bootstrapping techniques compared to organizations with no need for further capital. The survey indicates that some bootstrapping methods are more commonly used, such as: Same terms of payment to all customers, Best terms of payment from suppliers, Buy used equipment instead of new, Sell on credit to customers, Make customers pay through installments on ongoing work and Obtain some kind of subsidy.