Supporting Ukraine and Promoting Peace

Update – 17 May 2022: Like billions of people around the world, we are strongly opposed to the ongoing war in Ukraine and strongly condemn Russia's continued and illegal acts of aggression. We wanted to provide an update on the steps we’ve taken over the last 2 months to continue supporting our Ukrainian community.

• We’ve blocked all payments in Russia: On March 1, we ceased processing all payments in the region to ensure that we're not making any financial contributions to the Russian economy. This means our paid product is not available and we've paused royalty payments to our creators and contributors.
• Promoting messages of peace and opposition to the war: We continue to keep Canva available to our Russian community to create pro-peace and anti-war content⁠(opens in a new tab or window) as well as to use Canva for education and nonprofits. Our pro-peace templates have been used more than 275,000 times since the start of the war. Our hope is that we can provide the Russian community with a platform to champion important causes, communicate their opposition to the war, and to join in the resounding global calls for peace.
• Content reporting: We have not seen any evidence of Canva being used for the wrong reasons and we’re continuing to closely monitor the situation with a number of mechanisms we have in place. Anyone can easily report any inappropriate use of Canva websites, templates, and elements, including when used to spread misinformation or propaganda.
• Financial support for Ukraine: We have deployed $1,000,000 in donations through Canva Foundation to our Ukrainian contributors and a number of nonprofits including UNHCR⁠(opens in a new tab or window), Save The Children Ukraine⁠(opens in a new tab or window), Tabletochki⁠(opens in a new tab or window), UNICEF⁠(opens in a new tab or window), and World Vision⁠(opens in a new tab or window) to support those impacted and displaced by the war.
  

We’re regularly evaluating our stance and availability in Russia, including through proactive content moderation, and we’ll continue to do everything we can to support our Ukrainian community while using our voice and our reach to share important messages as part of the call for peace.

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Like millions of people around the world, we’re heartbroken and appalled by the ongoing crisis unfolding in Ukraine, a sovereign nation where millions of innocent people have been forcibly displaced from their homes, their lives, and their families. The right to safety and freedom should never be partisan.

As a global platform with a community across 190 countries, including a large community in Ukraine, we strongly believe in the important responsibility we have to use our voice, our platform, and our reach to stand behind our values. We stand firmly with the world in support of Ukraine, and in echoing the global and resounding calls for peace and a swift end to this unlawful and reckless act of aggression. We’re also thinking of our Russian community, many of whom are incredibly hurt, upset, and have had no choice in the tragic events that are unfolding.

Credit: Sima Ghaffarzadeh, Pexels

Everyone, everywhere, should have an unequivocal right to peace, safety, and freedom.

We have a crucial responsibility – both socially and morally – to empower our team and our community to use their voices as part of the global cry for peace. Above all else, we stand for peace, we stand for safety, and we stand for those who have had their lives turned upside down by this unthinkable tragedy. We’ll always stand up for what we believe is right.

We’re continuing to closely monitor the situation and have launched a number of initiatives over the last few days to support our team, our community, and those directly affected by this crisis.

Supporting those directly impacted

Our immediate focus has been on the safety of our team and their loved ones, as well as doing everything we can to support those who have been directly impacted by the rapidly escalating situation.

Credit: Katie Godowski, Pexels

The Canva Foundation is working with a number of nonprofits including UNHCR⁠(opens in a new tab or window), Save the Children Ukraine⁠(opens in a new tab or window), Tabletochki⁠(opens in a new tab or window), UNICEF⁠(opens in a new tab or window), and World Vision⁠(opens in a new tab or window) who are all providing on-the-ground support. As one of our initial projects, we’re shipping 3,000 USB power banks to displaced people who have had to flee their homes for safety.

We’ve also been in regular contact with our team members in the impacted regions, as well as those with extended family in the area to assist with safe relocation across the border to neighboring countries, and support for those lodging applications to come to Australia.

To help provide immediate relief, we're donating $1,000,000 to those impacted by this crisis. We’re also matching donations from our team, dollar-for-dollar, for up to $5,000 per team member.

Empowering anyone to join the call for peace

To support people around the world to communicate messages of peace, unity, and support, we’ve created a range of templates⁠(opens in a new tab or window) and illustrations which we hope will become a way for people across the globe to amplify the important call for peace while bringing additional awareness to the tragic situation continuing to unfold.

These templates and illustrations are completely free to use and available across all 190 countries where Canva has an active presence. We’ll be continuing to create additional templates and illustrations over the coming days.

History has proven that our greatest strength stems from rallying together. We stand firmly in solidarity with Ukraine, and with the important goal of peace, safety, security, and freedom. The people of Ukraine are in our thoughts and we’ll continue to do everything we can to provide support and to make our voices heard.