Background: Community organizations are creating new opportunities to improve health, but many have limited experience in the rigorous evaluation of innovation. To expand the impact of these policies, programs and interventions, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Evidence for Action (E4A) Program has initiated a new service “Accelerating Collaboration for Evaluation (ACE)” at Johns Hopkins. The matching service aims to match E4A applicants from community organizations with researchers to generate evidence for useful interventions.

Objective: To present preliminary analysis of facilitators, challenges and lessons learned in matching researchers with community organizations.

Methods: Qualitative case study analyses of the initial nine organizations referred by E4A for ACE matching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with applicants and their matched researchers. We conducted thematic analysis and report findings.

Principal Findings: Geographic proximity and a shared interest in the organization’s mission were the most important criteria for applicant organizations in identifying a suitable researcher partner. The most common facilitators of achieving a match were the applicant’s familiarity with potential researcher partners, the researcher’s experience in working with similar organizations, existing funding for the intervention, and a strong alignment in the goals of the organization and the researcher. Common challenges in matching applicants and researchers included applicant factors such as small staff size, frequent turn over, lack of understanding of data needs, limited flexibility in the structure of proposed interventions, and remote location of applicant programs, policies and interventions. Despite the barriers, ACE was successful in matching 8 out of 9 applicants to researchers. Success of the matching service was indicated by a 100% satisfaction among partners, partners’ intentions to work together, and to seek alternative funding if the current effort fails.

Conclusion:The new ACE matching service has the potential to improve the identification and spread of innovative solutions by enabling rigorous evaluation. Matching can provide value to both applicants and researchers. Knowledge of what works and what does not, facilitates the spread of successful innovations. Community organizations are mission driven and researchers should take this into account when partnering with them.