This top tip is brought to you on by digitalforcharities.co.uk.
For small charity communications teams, managing social media for charity campaigns often involves juggling too many tools: spreadsheets for planning, design tools for graphics, and task managers for tracking progress.
In this top tip, we highlight a workflow inspired by a tutorial from digital strategist Amber Figlow. You will learn how to build a calendar—from planning to design—all within a single Canva document.
Why Streamlining Digital Marketing for Charity Matters
When managing digital marketing for charity, time and resources are usually tight. Jumping between separate planning spreadsheets and graphic design software wastes precious time and increases the chance of missing important awareness days or campaign deadlines.
By organizing your social media strategy directly inside Canva, your team can:
- Centralize Your Workflow: Plan, design, and track social posts in one shared file.
- Speed Up Approvals: Link draft graphics directly to your calendar layout so managers, trustees, or volunteers can review posts instantly.
- Maintain Brand Consistency: Keep your charity’s brand kit, campaign assets, and schedule together in one workspace.
Step-by-Step: Building an All-in-One Canva Content Calendar
1.Set up your planning grid: Canva Sheets.
Open Canva and create a new document or spreadsheet layout. Set up essential columns for your charity’s campaign workflow, such as: Publication Date, Platform (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn), Content Theme (e.g., Volunteer Spotlight, Impact Stat, Fundraising Appeal), and Status.
2.Add status and category dropdown menus: Custom dropdowns.
Use Canva’s custom dropdown fields to make tracking visual and straightforward. Create status tags like “Ideas”, “In Design”, “Needs Review”, and “Scheduled”. This gives your team an immediate snapshot of what is ready to publish.
3.Create your post graphics in the same file: Design pages.
Rather than opening a separate design project, add new design pages right alongside your spreadsheet tab. Apply your charity’s logo, colors, and fonts to build post graphics for your upcoming campaign.
4.Hyperlink your designs directly to your calendar: Interlinking.
Link each design page directly to its corresponding row in your content table. Anyone reviewing the content schedule can simply click the link to view or edit the exact graphic without searching through folders.
5.Review, approve, and schedule: Batching.
Once your post copy and graphics are complete, update the status tag to “Approved”. Export your finalized posts or use Canva’s built-in scheduler to queue them up across your social media channels.
💡 Non-Profit Pro-Tip
Simplified Volunteer Onboarding: If you work with volunteer content creators, housing the calendar and design templates in a single Canva link reduces onboarding friction. Volunteers can easily see what needs to be created, follow preset templates, and mark tasks complete.
