Maintaining AIFD Accreditation & CFD Certification

Certification Renewal Form | Procedures | CE Reporting Forms
Earn Your CEUs | 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 (Click here to complete and submit your Continuing Education Units Form online.) or (Click here to download the CEU Report Form.)
   
   
2. Pay their annual membership dues (Click here to login and renew your membership online.)

Continuing Education Requirements for Maintaining AIFD Accreditation & CFD Certification

Continual professional development activities are essential in enabling professional floral designers to demonstrate their creative abilities and talent. Therefore, to maintain accreditation as a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers, or to retain the coveted CFD designation, floral designers must accumulate 25 points of continuing education or floral industry leadership every three (3) years and submit a completed Continuing Education Renewal Report form. Please note: AIFD accredited members must report a minimum of five (5) leadership/
services/educator/presenter units as part of their 25 unit report.

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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

Continuing education points for renewal of AIFD Accreditation or CFD designation can be earned from the date immediately following the National Symposium in which an AIFD member was inducted or in which a CFD designer obtained their CFD designation, until the final date of a National Symposium three years later; then, in a similar pattern for each of the next three year periods.

AIFD Accredited members, upon reaching 21 years of continuous Accredited Membership, 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 an AIFD member reach the age of 65 and be fully retired from the floral industry, the requirement of continuing education shall be waived. There is no 21 year waiver for CFD designers.

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Procedures

Approximately twelve months prior to the expiration of any three year continuing education renewal cycle, AIFD will mail reminder notices of the continuing education renewal cycle to all AIFD Accredited Members and CFD Designers. Your CE Renewal Report will be kept on file by AIFD. Renewal forms are retained for three (3) years by the Institute's Accreditation Department. If you plan to complete your 25 CE credits by attending the next Symposium, please indicate such and 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

There is NO fee requirement when submitting a CE maintenance report. Reporting forms are due by June 15 of your CE Renewal Year. If you are unsure of your renewal year, please contact AIFD Headquarters

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

A floral designer who has not acquired sufficient continuing education points for renewal on the scheduled renewal date will be notified in writing that his or her Accreditation or Certification is suspended and that he/she is prohibited from using the AIFD/CFD designation and will no longer be listed as an AIFD Accredited Member or Certified Floral Designer until the floral designer:

1. Resubmits to the Professional Floral Design Evaluation (PFDE) process and successfully meets the criteria
for Accreditation/Certification; or

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

Should an AIFD Accredited Member or CFD Designer fail to comply with either of the above or fail to submit his or her annual membership or certification dues within 12 months, he or she will lose his or her
Accreditation/Certification with AIFD and shall have no alternative but to resubmit to the PFDE process and successfully meet the appropriate criteria.

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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.