Maintaining CFD Certification

Certification Renewal Form | Procedures | CE Reporting Forms
Earn Your CEs | Reporting Schedule

To maintain the status of a Certified Floral Designer or Accredited Member of AIFD, designers must:

1. Meet certain continuing education requirements every three years and in the case of AIFD members
   
   
2. Pay their annual membership dues (Click here to login and renew your membership online)

Continuing Education Requirements for Maintaining CFD Certification

Continuing professional development activities are essential in enabling professional floral designers to demonstrate their creative abilities and talent. Therefore, to retain the coveted CFD or AIFD in Floral Design designation, a designer must accumulate 25 points of continuing education every three years AND submit a completed CFD Continuing Education (CE) Renewal Report from for the first 21 years of his or her certification. There is a $225 CE report fee required. This fee, however, is waived for AIFD Accredited Members and can be reduced by $75 for each year a CFD is a "Friend of AIFD." Designers can submit this form online or print the form, complete it and mail or fax it to AIFD Headquarters. See the chart below to learn more about how to earn your 25 Continuing Education units.

Click here to complete and submit your Continuing Education Units Form online.

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Certification Renewal Report Form

The Certification Renewal Report form can be submitted online or printed, mailed or faxed to AIFD headquarters.

Continuing Education Points Must be Reported Every Three Years

Continued education points for renewal of CFD or AIFD Accreditation can be earned from the date immediately following the National Symposium in which a member was inducted, until the final date of a National Symposium three years later. Then, in a similar patter for each of the next three year periods until the designer has reached 21 years of continuous certification. Click here to see the schedule for reporting CEUs.

Upon reaching 21 years of continuous certification, the designer shall be waived from needing to meet further continuing education requirements provided that he or she maintains his or her membership in good standing with the Institute. Also, should a designer have reached the age of 65 and be fully retired from the floral industry, the requirement of continuing education shall be waived. A CFD designer who is not a member of AIFD must report continuing education for 30 years.

(Click here for instructions on how to submit the CEU report form.)

Click here to download the CEU Report Form

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Procedures

AIFD will mail reminder notices to all CFD Certified and AIFD Accredited Members of the continuing education maintenance requirement six months prior to the expiration of any three year continuing education renewal cycle. A report on maintenance points can be submitted online or via mail/fax at any time the designer has earned the total 25 continuing education units. This report will be kept in a designer's personnel file. You may reproduce this report form on your word processor or include additional pages as necessary. Renewal forms are retained for three years by the Institute. If you plan to complete your 25 CE credits by attending the next Symposium, please indicate such and return this form now. AIFD will verify your attendance.

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Those Failing to Report CE Points Face Loss of Certification and Membership

CE Reporting Forms are due by June 15

The Board of Directors of the American Institute of Floral Designers and its Accreditation Evaluation Committee have set the following policy to address the loss of Certification or Accreditation due to failure to meet the renewal requirement:

AIFD members and CFDs who have not acquired sufficient continuing education points for renewal on the scheduled renewal date will be notified in writing that their Accreditation or Certification is suspended and they are prohibited from using the AIFD or CFD designation and will no longer be listed as an AIFD Accredited Member or CFD until the floral designer:

1. Resubmits to the PFDE process and successfully meets the criteria for certification or;

2. Accumulates and reports a total of 25 continuing education points within one year of his/her date of suspension.

Should an AIFD Accredited Member fail to comply with either of the above or fail to renew his/her annual membership in AIFD within 12 months, he or she will be terminated from membership and shall have no alternative but to resubmit to the Accreditation process and successfully meet the criteria for Accreditation.

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How to Earn Your 25 CEs/Service Units Every Three Years

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Each year, immediately prior to its National Symposium, the American Institute of Floral Designers will conduct an Accreditation Evaluation Session for floral designers seeking to gain membership into the Institute and to earn their "Accredited in Floral Design" status.