Assessing Organizational Conditions in Civil Society Organizations: Development and Pilot Feasibility Study of a Social Entrepreneurship Diagnostic Instrument

Abstract

Civil society organizations (CSOs) are central to addressing social and developmental challenges in small island developing states, yet many operate under resource constraints and donor dependency that threaten their operational continuity and social mission. Frameworks such as the Transformational Theory of Change (TToC) have been proposed to guide organizational strengthening and long-term sectoral transformation, but their practical application depends on instruments capable of generating reliable baseline data on CSO organizational conditions. This paper reports the development and pilot feasibility study of a composite diagnostic instrument that assesses ten organizational domains, including social entrepreneurship practices, management systems, human resource management, networking, marketing, financial practices, accountability, and institutional support. The instrument was administered face-to-face with senior representatives of four heterogeneous CSOs in Trinidad and Tobago. Feasibility indicators show full completion, near-complete item-level response (98.5%), acceptable respondent burden, and interpretable organization-level profiles. Cross-case analysis reveals high reported entrepreneurial behavior and networking alongside weaker conditions in staffing, remuneration, program measurement, and expense coverage. The pilot also identified that program-level investment data required for Social Return on Investment analysis was unavailable, defining a priority for instrument refinement. The study's contribution is methodological: it provides a tested, replicable diagnostic instrument and feasibility evidence to guide its refinement and broader deployment in support of organizational capacity-building in the social sector.