By Harry Lynch, CEO Sanky Communications
AI is changing how donors find information – and the pace of change is breathtaking.
Google’s AI-powered summaries now sit at the top of many search results. Questions are answered even before people ever reach a nonprofit’s website. And for many, tools like ChatGPT are becoming the starting point for searches that once began — and ended — on Google. The result? Many nonprofits are seeing declines in organic website traffic – and fretting about the future of digital fundraising.
What’s a fundraiser to do? First, take a breath. Look at the facts. The vast majority of online searches still happen on Google. Traditional search engines remain central to how people navigate the web. What’s changing isn’t whether people search — it’s that answers are delivered before donors and potential donors ever even get to a website.
Is AEO the Answer?
By now, you’ve probably heard all the buzz about AEO – Answer Engine Optimization, or AEO. At its simplest, AEO means structuring content so AI-driven tools can clearly understand what you’re saying and, in some cases, use it when generating answers. Unlike traditional SEO, which is focused on rankings and clicks, AEO is about clarity — making content easy to interpret, extract, and summarize.
There are technical aspects to this work: clean site structure, schema markup, and well-organized pages. There are also simpler changes that matter just as much. Pages that answer common questions directly, use plain language, avoid jargon, and explain clearly what your organization does and why it matters tend to perform better — with both people and machines.
Let’s be clear, though: nonprofits shouldn’t expect miracles. Even with a disciplined focus on AEO, most organizations are unlikely to appear regularly in Google’s AI summaries or be cited by tools like ChatGPT. The bar is high, competition is intense, and these systems tend to rely on a relatively small group of highly authoritative sources. AEO isn’t a shortcut. And it certainly isn’t a guarantee.
But AEO matters – because clarity still matters. Even when your organization isn’t explicitly cited, AI systems may still be drawing on nonprofit content to shape their answers. And AEO-aligned content is usually clearer for donors, journalists, partners, and staff as well. In that sense, AEO strengthens the fundamentals of good digital communication — even if it doesn’t deliver headline-grabbing visibility.
Paid Search Still Matters – Maybe More than Ever
If you are worried that AI is putting search engine marketing on its last legs, that’s understandable. But it’s also wrong — at least for fundraising.
Paid search remains one of the most reliable ways to reach donors at moments of clear intent. Sponsored ads often appear above, or alongside, AI-generated summaries, providing a direct path to your website when someone is ready to donate. AI tools can explain a cause or summarize options. They don’t complete transactions.
Search marketing itself is evolving, too. Platforms are increasingly using AI to improve bidding, targeting, and optimization. These tools aren’t magic, but they can make campaigns more efficient when paired with strong fundamentals like clear messaging, disciplined budgets, and well-designed landing pages.
Amid all this disruption, one important reality often gets lost in the noise: digital revenue is still growing for many nonprofits. The path may be less predictable, attribution messier, and tactics more fluid — but AI has complicated digital fundraising, in some ways enhanced it, without breaking it.
The real challenge isn’t predicting exactly what comes next. It’s staying engaged and adaptable. In an AI-shaped fundraising landscape, organizations that remain curious, disciplined, and willing to adjust will be best positioned to succeed.
