What are the barriers and facilitators for third sector organisations (non-profits) to evaluate their services? A systematic review

Background: The third sector is becoming a more common provider of social and health services, but little is
known about how third sector organisations (TSOs) evaluate their activities. Past research has reported that the
third sector is under increasing pressure to evaluate its impact and performance by government and other
commissioning bodies. However, in responding to this increased pressure to undertake evaluation, research
suggests that many TSOs struggle to evaluate their activities following the principles of evidence-based practice
(EBP). Yet, there has been no systematic effort to investigate why the third sector is struggling to provide good
quality evidence of its effects.
Methods: This systematic review is reported following the PRISMA guidelines. Ten interdisciplinary databases were
searched using a search string developed following best practice and in consultation with an information systems
expert. Included studies were primary research of any research design investigating barriers to and facilitators of the
evaluation process of TSOs as identified by practitioners. All studies were quality appraised, and the results were
synthesised as a thematic summary.
Results: Twenty-four studies were included, which mainly investigated TSOs working within health and social
services. The thematic summary identified the main barriers for TSOs to undertake evaluation to be related to the
(1) lack of financial resources, (2) lack of technical capability and evaluation literacy and (3) challenges around
identifying relevant evaluation systems and outcome indicators. Key facilitating factors involved (1) getting the
appropriate support, (2) having an organisational culture that supports evaluation and (3) the motivation to be
accountable to stakeholders. These findings were robust to study quality.
Conclusions: This review constitutes the first systematic effort to synthesise existing literature on factors supporting
and preventing evaluation by TSOs. The prevalence of factors revolving around the lack of support, resources and
clarity on appropriate outcome indicators suggests that many of the identified challenges may be met by applying
evidence-based and stakeholder-inclusive strategies to develop shared evaluation requirements. Future efforts
should address the application of EBP as part of the commissioning process of TSOs.