Civil Society Associations as the most common form of non-profit organizations in Croatia are increasingly faced with the problem of lack of financial resources for their actions. The growing number of registered associations on one hand, and the smaller amounts of public subsidies on the other hand, can endanger the financial sustainability of associations in the long term, and there is a need to find alternative sources of funding for the associations. Activities carried out by associations directly or indirectly influence tourism. Direct impact of associations on tourism implies all activities of associations that can be directly linked to the tourism system. In this context, the financial sustainability of an association can be observed through direct effects on tourism, i.e. through self-funding of associations by taking economic activities related to tourism. These are activities related to the sale of products and services, souvenirs, tickets, the offer of various workshops, schools and courses, tours and etc. All the self-funding activities directly affect tourism, enriching the offer in a tourist destination by which the higher number of visitors is affected, i.e. the growth of tourist traffic (arrivals and overnight stays), and consequently the growth of tourist consumption and the total income from tourism. By carrying out activities directly affecting tourism, associations, apart from increasing the share of self-made funds, also strengthen their mission, visibility and recognition of the association With the simple linear regression method, one of the aspects of direct impact on tourism has been tested and confirmed. It has been confirmed that there is a significant statistical relationship between the number of associations that have a direct or indirect impact on tourism and the number of tourist arrivals for four by tourist traffic the most developed destinations in Croatia (Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Poreč, Medulin). Indirect impact of associations on tourism imply the creation of conditions and infrastructures affecting the quality of the guest's stay in the destination, i.e. the quality of dealing with a certain type of activity. Many associations carry out activities such as sea and seabed cleaning, arranging of biking and hiking trails, revitalization of neglected facilities and areas etc. The more enjoyable living conditions in the destination will result in greater visitor pleasure and greater probability of re-arrival to the destination. Activities and projects of associations that indirectly affect the development of tourism in a given area should be recognized by local self-government units and tourist communities by providing them with financial support through various sources of public funds. Financial sustainability of associations can also be improved by increasing the volume and more effectively managing public grants of local self-government at the tourist destination level. The precondition for this is the clear linking of the goals of the association and the assessment of the effects that the associations have on the tourism destination's outcomes and what needs to be defined in the criteria of the competition for the funding of association’s programs. Given the importance of associations for tourism development, all strategic documents on tourism development at national, regional and local level have been analyzed. From the analysis of the mentioned documents, it is evident that the associations are recognized and identified as one of the key players in the development of tourism; however, the documents have largely failed to "assign" their active roles in the realization of certain activities, or, in view of their potential, are insufficiently involved in the reflection of the strategy the development of a particular form of tourism as well as tourism development strategies at the national, regional and local level. Given the potential they have, associations should have a strong role in planning, organizing and realizing certain activities, and none the less their educational and advisory role and the role of support to other interest groups. The aim of the empirical work is to determine whether the associations recognize the importance of tourism for funding of their own activities, or to what extent they carry out activities directly or indirectly influencing tourism and how this reflects their financial sustainability. Also, the aim of the research is to determine whether organizations representing a more positive attitude toward tourism are more oriented towards carrying out activities related to (direct or indirect) tourism. For this purpose, an online survey by members of the assembly's associations was conducted in four by tourist traffic the most developed destinations in Croatia (Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Poreč, Medulin) measured by the number of tourist arrivals and number of overnight stays. The research was conducted in the period from May 1st. to May 31st., 2018. The basic meeting (510 associations) comprised all associations which, according to the area of activity, were found to have a direct or indirect impact on tourism in the four mentioned tourist destinations. Based on the defined basic set, a sample of research was selected. For the purpose of this study, a randomly stratified sample was used, meaning that the basic set was divided into layers based on the headquarters of the association (Dubrovnik, Rovinj, Poreč, Medulin), whereby a simple random sample was selected, representing 40% of the basic group or 205 associations. Out of a total of 205 e-mails sent with a link as a call to the survey, 153 properly completed questionnaires returned, which makes a 75% response rate. The survey questionnaire consisted of three parts. The first part examines general information on the activities of associations, the second part examines the views of associations towards tourism, the last, the third relates to the funding of associations. The data obtained were processed by the methods of univariate and bivariate statistical analysis. Research results suggest that positive attitudes, or more positive perception of members of the assembly's association on tourism's influence, are in correlation with the activities that directly affect tourism. Unlike the activities directly affecting tourism, the link between attitudes and the conduct of indirect activities has not been confirmed. The results of the analysis of the financial viability of associations through tourism-related activities show that there is a positive link between the frequency of activities directly affecting tourism and financial sustainability measured by the share of active self-funding, self-funding and donations and grants. In other words, an increase in the frequency of activities directly related to tourism is accompanied by an increase in the share of active self-funding and self-funding, as well as a drop in the share of donations and grants. On the other hand, there is no statistically significant relationship between associations that carry out activities that are indirectly related to tourism and financial sustainability. Also, there is a noticeable and significant statistical difference in financial sustainability with regard to the area of activity of associations. Research findings suggest that influence on tourism attitudes may affect the motivation and perception of associations to link their activities to the goals of a tourist destination, which will result in greater financial sustainability of the association as measured by the ratio of self-funding in relation to grants and donations. The limitations of this research are reflected in the lack of precision and systematization of the Registry of Associations, from which the associations were searched with regard to the area of activity and the headquarters of the association, which made the listing of each association separately, by analyzing the goals of each association and by placing the association in a certain area of activity according to the goals. Based on this research conducted in coastal tourist destinations, future research should examine the views of tourism associations in the continental part of Croatia, i.e. or do organizations in developed continental destinations recognize tourism as a means to increase their own income. The contribution of this work is reflected in theoretical and applicative sense. The scientific contribution of the conceptual work of research is reflected in the review and systematization of the previous research on the importance, activity and sources of funding of associations, analysis of the existing system of funding associations, linking the civil society with the tourism system and determining the importance of associations as one of the sectors of tourism development and determining areas in which associations should be involved in the development of tourism. The scientific contribution of the applied research work is reflected in the determination of the direct and indirect impact of the associations on tourism, the establishment of direct and indirect sources of funding of associations through tourism, the creation of the proposal of criteria that should be included in the future tenders for the financing of the associations. The applicative contribution is seen from the conducted empirical research that established greater financial sustainability of associations that by their actions and activities are related to tourism and the determination of new potential areas of activity of associations in tourist destinations in order to increase the degree of financial autonomy i.e. sustainability.