Giving Compass' Take:

• The London-based charity Wellcome reviews its recent Public Engagement Fund, which funds individuals and organizations in the area of public health research. The main takeaway is that collaboration drives impact.

• What can we learn from the projects and organizations mentioned in this piece? How can we encourage a better environment for proactive partnerships and creative solutions to problem-solving, in the health sector or elsewhere?

• Here's more on how effective collaborations can improve healthcare access.

In August, we made the second set of awards under our new Public Engagement Fund scheme. Greer Roberts and Alexandra Parsons pull out some patterns we saw in the applications and have tips for future applicants.

The most exciting proposals we saw in this round were collaborative, bringing together researchers, creative professionals and members of the public.

Many applications want to try new ways of working. It’s great to see so many different approaches being tested, but we also want proposals that learn from existing successful engagement activities and aim to create long-term sustainable change.

We’d like to see applicants thinking through how to contribute to the public engagement sector. In particular, we’d like to see established institutions taking a lead on thinking not just about disseminating the results of their projects, but sharing practice. That would mean a diverse range of people and organizations across the sector could benefit.

We’ve said it before: outcomes and impact matter. One of the most common mistakes we’re seeing is that applicants describe what they want to do, but forget to show why the work is important for the audiences it serves, and what might change as a result.

Read the full article about collaboration in UK-based health programs at Wellcome.