How OIP works
How OIP ranks
OIP orders things in three ways: opportunities get an OIP Score, the Opportunity Finder ranks matches for your profile, and My OIP orders market facts by what you follow. Nobody can pay to rank higher, and OIP never ranks investments as better or worse.
1. The OIP Score (0 to 100)
Each opportunity OIP has scored gets one score out of 100. It is the plain average of the parts below that have enough evidence behind them. A part without enough evidence, or one that doesn't apply, is left out rather than guessed, and each part left out lowers the score's confidence. Risk, difficulty, time required and money required count in reverse: the more of them, the lower the score. The score describes the listing itself, not how well it fits you.
- Evidence quality: How many key facts the official source confirms: a deadline, an amount, specific eligibility and a source link.
- Confidence: Whether the source record looks complete and settled. An amended record or an undisclosed amount lowers it.
- Potential value: The amount on offer, in tiers. When the source gives only a program total, OIP divides it by the expected number of awards.
- Urgency: How soon the deadline is: under a week, under a month, under three months, or later. Rolling and upcoming programs get their own values, and closed ones leave this part out.
- Difficulty: An estimate based on the type of award (a cooperative agreement is more work than a simple grant). Left out when OIP can't tell. Counts in reverse.
- Time required: An estimate based on the type of award. Counts in reverse.
- Money required: An estimate, based on the type of award, of whether you may need to put in money of your own. Counts in reverse.
- Risk: Rises when the amount isn't disclosed, there is no deadline, eligibility is generic, or the record hasn't been updated in six months. Counts in reverse.
- Newness: Not scored yet, so it is always left out of the average.
Every opportunity page shows its score, each part's value and why, and the official source to check it against.
2. Opportunity Finder: ranked for you
When you answer the Finder's questions or save a profile, OIP gives each opportunity a match score: the average of these fit checks, again leaving out any it can't judge from the evidence.
- Eligibility: Whether you or your organization type can apply.
- Location: Whether the opportunity covers where you are.
- Goal: How well it matches what you said you are trying to do.
- Skills: Whether it fits the work you do.
- Industry: Whether it fits your field.
- Money needed: Whether the amount and type of funding fit what you need.
- Time available: Whether the deadline leaves you enough time.
- Risk tolerance: Whether terms like repayment or equity fit what you said you'd accept.
Matches are ordered by match score. Ties go to the higher OIP Score, then listings OIP has verified before ones still under review, then the nearer deadline, then fewer unknowns.
A match is not a guarantee: the official source decides eligibility, deadlines and terms.
3. My OIP and the Daily Brief: ordered by relevance
Market facts (SEC filings, insider trades, financials, rates, crypto and DeFi) are ordered by relevance to you: things you follow first, then what is new since your last visit, then size, such as a large insider sale or a filing that reports specific events.
OIP does not score stocks, tokens or markets, pick winners, or say what to buy, sell or hold. Where an item shows "Why you're seeing this", that line gives the reason it is there.
What never affects ranking
- Payment: no one can buy a position, a boost or a mention. Paid plans change how much detail you see, not the order.
- Referral links: they are labeled and never change what OIP shows.