Search is different. Are you retrievable and trustworthy?
If you've been following Streetlight Digital advice for a while, we know you've been planning for Giving Tuesday 2026 since the last one wrapped. You've pulled together all of last year's fantastic data to learn what worked and what needs to change. And of course, you've been factoring in how AI Overviews have completely changed the search landscape. No sweat, right?
If you’re feeling a little anxious about making sure your mission gets noticed in the weeks leading up to Giving Tuesday, read this brief article, and take heart.
Yes, people are searching differently. A 2026 SparkToro study of Similarweb data found that 68% of US Google searches are zero-click, meaning they don’t end with a visit to a website. For every 1,000 searches, only 276 clicks go to the open web. Something newer is happening too. AI Overviews used to show up almost only on informational searches. Since our October webinar on the topic of donor acquisition in the age of AI, we’ve started seeing them on branded searches as well. That means a donor who types your name into Google may read an AI summary of your organization before they ever reach your site.
However, people are searching as much as ever. Your website still matters, and all the SEO you already do still counts. There is no separate AI strategy to buy to show up when someone goes to AI to get information.
So, is there anything I can do about AI visibility in the weeks before Giving Tuesday, when giving intent starts to build?
The honest answer is that this work takes months. Shortcuts exist, they get caught, and the penalty can take down your whole site. In short, if you want AI search to recommend you, one key element is to make sure people, publishers, partners, and platforms recommend you first. This makes you retrievable, and trustworthy.
However, there are a few things you can do now.
First, you should regularly check what AI already says about you and fix the pages it cites. Update your “About Us” page so it tells your story in plain language, and skip the keyword stuffing. Then make sure that story matches everywhere AI looks to confirm it: your social profiles, Wikipedia, Charity Navigator, CharityWatch, and Candid. You can also use the paid door since Ads now appear inside AI Overviews and AI Mode. For nonprofits, a huge on-ramp is the Google Ad Grant. Finally, be sure to run AI Max with guardrails: turn off text customization, turn off URL expansion, and keep branded and unbranded searches separate.
The best nonprofit strategy for AI search visibility
To show how this works in practice, we’ll use our client, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. Their program is a useful case study because it reaches people who search for answers first and are ready to give or fundraise later.
Every page gets one test: can someone else write it?
AI can summarize a “what is Crohn’s disease” article in seconds from a hundred sources. The better question for you to pursue is: is this information only you have? If yes, you have a real shot at being cited, as long as your facts are sourced correctly.
The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation’s pages that pass the test are the ones AI keeps citing: patient ambassador stories, 500+ dietitian-approved Gut-Friendly Recipes, a symptom tracker, and tools to find care and local support.
These are informational pages, leading with the answer. Compare “Crohn’s disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that causes inflammation of the digestive tract” with “Inflammatory bowel disease affects nearly 1 in 100 Americans.” Answer first, use real numbers, and say it plainly.
Even though organic traffic softened, all the hard work the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation put into their website content contributed to a rise in blog sessions, AI mentions, and AI assistant referrals over the same period.
Where does your nonprofit stand?
Donors increasingly turn to AI to ask which organizations are doing the work to their interests, so the real question is where your nonprofit stands when they do. You can find out today by asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Mode three questions a donor might ask about your cause, then noting whether AI finds you, whether it picks you, and whether what it says about you is accurate.
From there, measure the whole chain, starting with three free first-party reports: Bing Webmaster Tools AI Visibility, the Google Search Console Generative AI report, and the GA4 AI Assistant channel. Together they show how AI discovers your content and whether that discovery turns into visits. Send us what you find, and the Streetlight Digital team will walk through it with you and map the strategy and next steps.
