The Best Free Creative Resources for your Not-for-Profit or Charity
There are some amazing free creative resources out there to elevate your not-for-profit marketing campaign, while helping you stay within your budget.
The hard part is knowing where to look to find these useful tools. Well, luckily I’m here to recommend some of the most useful free design, illustration and photography resources online.
I’ll also include advice on when to avoid the free or budget options, and when to make an investment instead!
Here are my top free tools and resources for your organisation:
Free Photography Resources
If you’re looking for free, high-quality images for an upcoming campaign – you’ll need to use images with a Creative Commons license. This means the images are royalty free, and you can use them on a variety of formats. It’s good practice to credit the photographer where possible (e.g. on the inner cover of a brochure) as a thank you!
These are some of my favourite royalty free photography sites, which have a huge selection of images, and don’t feel too corporate or posed:
Unsplash
Great for a huge variety of high quality images, generally with a trendy and authentic feel.
Pexels
Perfect for timely content, with a huge pool of photographers and videographers who contribute to this free site.
Nappy
This site has an excellent range of high-quality images featuring black and brown models.
When to use:
Ideal for blog posts, filler images for editorial design such as booklets and brochures, and general marketing collateral. Particularly if you do not have access to a photographer, or if your organisation doesn’t have a high quality photo library.
When not to use:
Where possible it is better to avoid stock images, and instead use commissioned photography for your most important campaigns, or if you’re really looking to engage a specific group of people, e.g. your target audience. This will make for a far more appealing piece of content.
Free Illustration Resources
Icons and simple vector illustrations can be very helpful to help convey complex information in a clear way. Here are some of my favourite free resources for icons and illustrations:
Noun Project
Here you can find a huge variety of free to use icon designs. Available SVG and PNG formats, which are free to use with attribution.
Open Peeps
A fun hand-drawn illustration library, where you can mix-and-match elements to create stylish illustrations of people, or download ready made ones instead.
Undraw
Modern vector illustrations, featuring people in abstract scenes, generally with a more corporate and professional feel.
IonIcons
When to use:
Adding some icons or illustrations can make marketing materials with a lot of text feel more fun and accessible. I’d recommend using these free resources for things like social media posts and internal comms.
When not to use:
I’d advise commissioning custom illustrations created for campaigns where an illustration is the central visual feature, and you want to generate maximum
impact. Here stock illustrations won’t generate the buzz for your campaign in the same way. Keep in mind similar organizations may use the same free creative resources, and you don’t want to have the same imagery in your key campaigns!
Free Fonts
Sometimes you need a font that isn’t available in Adobe Typekit, or is a little more unusual! You can find some interesting free fonts on these websites. But I recommend keeping in mind accessibility. Avoid using a more decorative or display font for anything other than large titles (minimally).
I recommend checking the licensing rules for each font you have chosen, particularly if you plan to use it for a commercial project.
Google fonts
Dafont
Fontfabric
Free Stock Video Content
When to use:
Great to use as b-roll for your marketing campaign video, or for social media reels.
When not to use:
Stock video, while helpful sometimes, does lack a personal touch. If you need more engaging content, try a simpler approach on your social media. Ask a team member talk to camera about an upcoming campaign instead, and publish on your Instagram stories.
I hope you find these free creative resources helpful for your future marketing campaigns or publications!
Please note – all websites listed provide free resources at the time of publishing. I recommend checking the licencing information for all assets before downloading, to ensure correct usage.
Looking to work with a freelance designer?
If these free creative resources aren’t enough to achieve your goals for brand or upcoming campaign, I can help. I work with charities, not for profits, and organisations who make a positive impact.
Get in touch for a free 30 minute consultation.
