Data Sources & Methodology

Most mission-driven organizations are not turned away from funding because their work lacks merit, they are turned away because they cannot efficiently translate their work into funder-legible signals, and cannot see the full landscape of capital they qualify for. CIFIS calls this the Capital Access Gap. Every module is built to close some portion of it.

CAPS Lite is a deterministic readiness score on a 0–100 scale. It decomposes into five locked factors:

• Org Readiness: 25 points
• Program Definition: 20 points
• Impact Evidence: 20 points
• Funder Fit Surface: 20 points
• Funding Clarity: 15 points

Scoring is rule-based, not generative, the same inputs always produce the same score. Each factor exposes specific remediation hints so users can see exactly what to improve.

Funder Intelligence and Opportunity Radar use deterministic matching based on structured signals: focus areas, beneficiary populations, geographies, funding range, organization type eligibility, and stated funder priorities. Each match exposes the reasons behind it.

Match scores are intelligence signals, they reflect alignment in the data, not a prediction of award.

Every funder and opportunity record carries provenance metadata: source, source URL, verification status, and last verified date. Verification statuses include:

• Verified: reviewed by CIFIS staff against the original source.
• Auto-imported: sourced from a structured feed; not yet manually reviewed.
• Unverified: record exists but has not been checked.
• Flagged: known issue; the record may be inaccurate or out of date.

Freshness is bucketed from the last verified date:

• Fresh: verified within 30 days
• Recent: 31–90 days
• Aging: 91–180 days
• Needs Review: 180+ days, or unknown

• Public foundation filings and official funder pages.
• Federal opportunity feeds (e.g., grants.gov) ingested via structured adapters.
• State and local opportunity portals.
• Curated RSS and announcement feeds.
• Manual entries by verified CIFIS staff.

Ask CIFIS is a read-only copilot. It answers only from data already in CIFIS, your organization profile, programs, CAPS Lite output, funders, opportunities, and pipeline. It does not browse the open web, does not draft applications, and refuses requests outside its four allowed intents: program analysis, funding readiness, funder intelligence, and gap analysis. See our AI Disclosure.

CIFIS scores and matches are decision-support, not award decisions. Before applying, always verify amounts, deadlines, and eligibility directly with the funder. For canonical definitions of the terms used across reports, see our Data Definitions.