This brief grew out of an attempt to distill the early research on a typology of collaboration for use in the field by practitioners attempting to build new collaborations and strengthen existing ones.  Here, we have created a list of the key factors or elements that lead to the success or failure of collaborations. This list builds on our field work as well as the rich literature on the topic. We view this as a first step in our process of creating a typology in which we see how contextual conditions shape how these success factors ultimately influence the success of collaborations.