How to Select and Edit Canva Templates for Your Nonprofit: A Step-by-Step Guide

Why Templates Can Be Tricky

You’ve probably experienced it before: You find an amazing template that looks perfect – only to realize you don’t have the right photos, or your brand colors clash with the default design. This can lead to frustration and a final product that doesn’t quite meet your expectations.

The key is looking past the shiny finished design and focusing on the elements that make the template work. These include text areas, color schemes, image placement, and any fixed graphic overlays, such as gradients, that might not be editable.

Tips for Selecting Canva Templates

There are thousands of free Canva templates included in your subscription, so looking at the list can feel totally overwhelming. When choosing a template, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Purpose: What is this design for? Whether it’s a Facebook post, website banner, or fundraising ad, the purpose of the graphic should dictate your template choice.
2. Content: Do you have all the necessary elements, such as high-quality photos, short headlines, or specific calls to action, to make this design work for your brand?
3. Elements: Pay attention to the design elements. If your brand colors are green and blue, will an orange gradient work? Can you adjust the fonts and shapes, or are they locked?

For example, in the workshop, I found a beautiful nonprofit template that seemed perfect, but when we applied the brand colors it didn’t carry the same energy or interest. In such cases, you may need to make significant edits to bring the design in line with your branding.

How to Edit a Canva Template: Step-by-Step Process

Once you’ve found a template that works, here’s how to make it your own:

1. Start with the framework: Look at the headline, description, and call to action areas. If your nonprofit doesn’t have a short one-line mission statement or a high-quality image that fits the design, you’ll need to adjust those elements.
2. Edit colors and fonts: Swap out the default colors for your brand colors and update the fonts to match your brand style. Canva’s “Brand Kit” feature is a lifesaver here, letting you apply your brand colors, logos, and fonts across any template with one click.
3. Resize for different platforms: Canva’s resize feature allows you to take a design and adapt it to different formats (e.g., social media post, email banner) without starting from scratch. This helps maintain a consistent look across all your materials.

Key Takeaways from a Design Pro

My first job as an unpaid graphic design intern was to resize advertisements and choose stock photography for the more senior designers, so I learned how to find the “right” styles fast. Although I’m well beyond those early days of scrubbing stock photography sites – and AI has all but made this role obsolete – those skills are still super useful when it comes to designing marketing collateral or creating templates with enough elements you can customize to extend the life of your branding.

There are two lessons that continue to be true when choosing and editing design templates:

It’s Okay to Be Picky

There are thousands of templates in Canva, so it’s okay to take your time and be picky. A great template is one where you can easily edit the elements to fit your brand without too much tweaking. If you ever get stuck, remember: Sometimes it’s about what you take away from a design, not what you add.

Consistency is in the Details

The more you tinker with templates, the more you’ll notice that consistency is all about the seemingly small details. Whether it’s keeping your fonts and colors the same across all designs or sticking to a simple, clean layout, paying attention to those details can make your nonprofit’s brand look polished and professional.

Other resources mentioned in the workshop:

• Paid templates: Creative Market
• Nonprofit graphic design and reports: Olivia Wheeler at Acton Circle
• Social media strategy: Brynne Krispin at Cause Fokus

If you’re looking to level up your nonprofit’s branding, start by scheduling a free consult with Lauren. I’d love to help you create consistent, impactful designs for your nonprofit!