Boost Promotion and Participation with Canva for Nonprofits
The power of effective branding in youth sport cannot be overstated — a well-designed brand identity and compelling promotional materials are essential tools in building your club's brand recognition, fostering a sense of community, and driving participation because promotion and participation go hand-in-hand.
Your club's branding is what sets you apart in a crowded field and creates a lasting impression. Strong, consistent branding across your promotional materials - be it posters, website or social media graphics, helps to establish a professional image, instilling trust, and sparking interest among current and potential members. This visual consistency ensures that whenever someone sees your materials, they immediately associate them with your club.
Now, imagine having a tool that not only simplifies the creation of these crucial branding elements (like the Kraft Dinner of graphic design) but also elevates their quality to a professional level. This is where Canva, an intuitive graphic design platform, comes into play. The best part? As a nonprofit, your club can gain free access to Canva Pro for free!
Canva Pro, the premium version of Canva, offers several advanced features that are not available in the free version. These additional features are designed to enhance functionality and provide more customization options. Here are just some of thkey features exclusive to Canva Pro:
Brand Kit: Canva Pro allows users to create and store brand kits, which include custom logos, colour palettes, and font styles. This ensures consistency in branding across all designs.
Magic Resize: This feature enables users to instantly resize their designs to any format or size, which is particularly useful for creating multiple versions of a design for different platforms.
Premium Templates and Assets: Canva Pro offers a wider range of premium templates, stock photos, audio, and videos, expanding creative options beyond those available in the free version.
Background Remover: Canva Pro includes a tool to easily remove the background from images, which is a significant time-saver for creating professional-looking designs.
Custom Fonts: Users can upload their own fonts in Canva Pro, which is essential for maintaining brand consistency
Team Collaboration Tools: Canva Pro provides advanced collaboration features, such as setting up a team and inviting members, which allows for seamless teamwork on projects.
Schedule Social Media Content: Users can schedule posts to social media platforms directly from Canva Pro, streamlining the content management process.
So how do you access this for free? Canva’s validation partner Powered by Percent has made the validation process for Canadian nonprofits a breeze. Just head over to the causes portal, search for your organization, and if not listed, simply click the link below the search bar and follow the steps to register. You will need your Articles of Incorporation or similar documentation.
Once your nonprofit status is validated, you get full access to Canva Pro.
Pro Tips
Set Up Your Brand Kit: First things first, set up your brand kit in Canva Pro. This includes your club's logos, specific colour palette, and fonts you want to use. Using your brand kit will help maintain a consistent and professional look across all your materials.
Leverage or Create Templates for Quick Designs: Create templates using your brand kit that you will use over and over again (player profiles, registration charts, final score graphics). If you’re not feeling creative, Canva Pro offers thousands of templates. Use them to your advantage for creating designs quickly while ensuring they look great. With a 135 million users world wide, you may recognize some of the templates you see!
Collaborate with Your Team: Utilize the collaboration features. Share your designs with team members, get feedback, and make edits in real-time.
Explore and Learn: Don’t miss out on Canva’s learning resources. They are incredibly helpful in getting the most out of the platform.
Plan Your Social Media Strategy: Canva Pro allows you to schedule your social media posts directly. This can be a huge time-saver and helps in maintaining a consistent online presence.
Embrace the power of design with Canva Pro, and watch your promotional efforts soar to new heights!
