Course description

You make the posters, the Facebook posts and the newsletter for a charity, a community group or a parish council, often in the evenings and usually with no budget. Designs live in different people's accounts, every poster looks a little different, and you're not quite sure what the rules say about charity numbers, fundraising or photos of people. This course shows you how to do it well in Canva, on a shoestring.

You'll set up a shared team and a simple brand, make event posters and flyers people can read from across a room, plan social posts a small group can keep up, and produce newsletters, signs and forms. Then you'll make an honest impact report with checked figures and truthful charts, plan and design a fundraising appeal within the rules, make everything accessible, and handle photos, consent, copyright and AI tools with care.

There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons, and each one ends with a practical task for your own group or the practice files. You follow Tern Valley Community Pantry, a made-up food pantry in Market Drayton, through 2026, and finish with a final project for a made-up village hall. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, example answers and a cheat sheet, plus checklists, briefs, copy banks, a photo consent form template, spreadsheets for a materials audit, a posting plan, print costs and impact figures, and the final project files.

What you'll learn

• Getting started: what your group makes in a year, Canva for Nonprofits and who can apply, getting the most from the free plan, and a starting point check.
• A team and brand kit: a Canva team with the right roles, a logo your group owns, colours that pass contrast checks, a brand kit and one-page guide, folders, file names and volunteers joining and leaving.
• Posters and flyers: the five questions every event poster answers, layout that reads from across a room, flyers and leaflets, the charity name and number rules, and templates for recurring events.
• Social posts: a posting plan a small group can keep, shapes for Facebook and Instagram, captions and local community groups, carousels and stories, and a month of posts in one session.
• Newsletters and everyday documents: a newsletter people read, volunteer role cards and thank-yous, signs, notices and forms, and printing on a budget.
• Impact reports: who reads them, choosing and checking figures, charts that tell the truth, stories and quotes with permission, and a one-page summary.
• Fundraising appeals: planning an appeal, the Code of Fundraising Practice in plain terms, leaflets, posters and posts, ways to give, Gift Aid basics and thanking donors.
• Accessibility: contrast and readable text, plain English, alt text, large print and easy read, and a check for every design.
• Photos, consent, copyright and AI: photos of people and consent, children and dignity, Canva's content licence, AI tools in general terms, and a sign-off routine.
• Final project: a campaign kit for a village hall's spring fair and roof appeal, or your own group's event: a poster, three social posts and a one-page impact report, with a model answer.

Who it's for

Staff and volunteers at small charities, community groups, parish and town councils, faith groups, clubs and associations in the UK. You don't need design experience or a paid plan: the free plan is enough for nearly every task, and the course explains Canva for Nonprofits and who can apply.

What this course is, and isn't

This is a practical design course built on Canva's own help pages and on guidance from the Charity Commission, the Fundraising Regulator, GOV.UK, the Information Commission and RNIB. It gives general information, not legal advice, and it doesn't recommend printers, suppliers or other design apps. Canva changes its tools and plans from time to time, so names and labels are given as they were at the time of writing, in October 2026.

What will I learn?

• List what your group makes, apply for Canva for Nonprofits if you’re eligible, and get the most from the free plan if not
• Set up a Canva team with the right roles, a logo your group owns, colours that pass contrast checks and a one-page brand guide
• Keep designs in shared folders with clear names, and bring volunteers in and out without losing work
• Make event posters and flyers that answer five questions, read from across a room and carry the charity line where the law asks for it
• Plan social posts a small group can keep up, use the right shapes, write captions that work and batch a month of posts
• Produce newsletters, role cards, signs and forms, and print them on a budget with a proof every time
• Make an honest impact report with checked figures, charts that start at zero and stories told with permission
• Plan and design a fundraising appeal within the Code of Fundraising Practice, with clear ways to give and prompt thank-yous
• Make every design accessible, from contrast and plain English to alt text, large print and easy read
• Handle photos of people, consent, copyright, Canva’s content licence and AI tools with care, and run a sign-off routine

Frequently asked questions