Membership guidelines

We are delighted to have you aboard. And we look forward to working with you to transform the industry.

By participating in the Flowers 2030 education program and committing to the Sustainable Floristry Pledge, you are already contributing to the SFN mission. But if we are to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, keep global warming to under +2C, and preserve our planet for future generations, we need urgent action — and perseverance.

Member Florists drive change and inspire others.

But the journey doesn’t end with membership.

We need to keep acting on, learning about and communicating the practices of sustainable floristry. These ideas will likely evolve in the next few years and our goal at the SFN is to stay on top of the latest scientific understanding about the problems we face and the solutions we can pursue.

1. Information for SFN Member Florists

Membership term

Because you completed the Foundation in Sustainable Floristry in 2023 or 2024, your membership will run to the end of 2025. After this, membership is annual.

You maintain your membership by completing shorter education units each year. These units will expand on previous learnings and will keep florists up to date with the latest thinking in sustainable floristry.

Completing the Foundation in Sustainable Floristry is a prerequisite for membership.

Membership costs

Membership is free.

However, SFN training courses and educations units are fee-paying. We keep all courses as affordable as possible.

Business memberships

SFN Member Florists are individuals. We are not currently offering business memberships. However, business owners and employees can list their company website in the URL of the directory listing.

We enforce this rule because a business can have many employees, including casual and part-time employees, who may not have sustainability training.

Termination of membership

Either party can terminate membership at any time and for any reason.

You may want to discontinue your association with the SFN because you are leaving the industry, or simply no longer wish to be aligned with the SFN.

The SFN will terminate if we do not believe you are adhering to your agreement. However, we will reach out to you and try to resolve the issue beforehand.

Communicating with the SFN

You can reach out to the SFN at any time for advice, to let us know about new sustainability initiatives, or to make a complaint. Please be aware that we are a small team. We will try our best to get back to you within two weeks.

We will add you to our Member Florist email list and regularly update you with sustainability news, upcoming courses, and other news.

2. SFN Member Florist commitment

Honour the Sustainable Floristry Pledge

The Sustainable Floristry Pledge is based on the SFN Design and Business Principles. Keep both documents handy. Consider them carefully, return to them often, and put them into practice.

Please note that we want you to be inspired by the pledge, not policed by it. Sustainability is sometimes impossible in an unsustainable world. You may not always meet your goals. That’s ok. Perfection is the enemy of progress. Being transparent and honest about both your successes and your failures helps others learn.

Respect the SFN’s core values

The SFN’s commitment to the industry and its members is best expressed as our core values. These are at the heart of our mission to reset ideas about flowers and floral design for a healthy global future. These values underpin the belief that together we can and must transform the world of floristry into a sustainable one.

Help create a community of kindness and respect

The SFN is an inclusive, welcoming community. You will interact with many florists who aren’t on board with our principles or just starting to make changes in their own practice. Alternatively, you may interact with florists who you believe are going about things the wrong way.

We ask that you respect other people’s paths towards sustainability, communicate constructively, and try to keep an open mind about the complicated nature of the industry when discussing controversial subjects, especially on social media. We do not wish to stifle frank discussion or debate, but we encourage tackling the subject, not the person.

Choose like-minded collaborators

You are now a member of a global community of sustainability practitioners. Seek out information, collaborations, products and services from other people and organisations whose ethics match yours.

Some product manufacturers and companies are deeply embedded in the industry and can be hard to avoid. Keep an eye out for greenwashing. You do not need to miss an event because it’s sponsored by a floral foam manufacturer, but avoid favours, funds or in-kind contributions from unsustainable or unethical companies.

3. Using the SFN Member Florist digital badge

The SFN Member Florist digital badge demonstrates your commitment to working sustainably, to a sustainable industry, and to continuing education. It lets customers know you have incorporated sustainability into your floristry.

How to access your badge

Badges are generated by digital credential network Credly. You will receive a direct email from Credly, inviting you to create an account and generate your badge.

Badge expiry

Your membership is valid for the dates printed on the badge. After this, the badge automatically expires.

We’ll contact you beforehand with details about the continuing professional development units you’ll need to complete in order to renew your membership

If you choose not to continue as an SFN Member Florist, you should delete the badge to avoid an ‘invalid’ message appearing on your listing.

Badges and your business

SFN Member Florists are individuals. Your digital badge applies to you as an individual florist, not your floristry business.

Conditions of use

As an SFN Member Florist, you must always:

1. display the line “*Your Name* is an SFN Member Florist” alongside your badge, wherever it appears. Your name should appear exactly as it does on your course completion certificate
2. hyperlink the badge on website to your Credly account page to explain what the badge represents.
3. hyperlink the line “*Your Name* is an SFN Member Florist” to your Credly account on email footers to explain to viewers what the badge represents.

Example of website use

Example of social media use

4. Important downloads and documents

There are several key documents that are relevant to Member Florists.

SFN Design and Business Principles

The SFN Design and Business Principles were designed as a practical guide for better decision making. This is a living document and we will update it over time as new understandings about the related subjects come to light. The full document can be accessed via our resources:

SFN core values

The SFN core values underpin the organisation’s operations and the development of educational content.

It is important that Member Florists respect and align with these values.

Sustainable floristry as a practice, not a person

This article discusses the concept of ‘sustainable floristry’ as a practice, not a person. It raises a number of considerations that directly tackle issues of marketing, greenwashing and the fact that ‘sustainable floristry’ is an emerging discipline, and we are yet to define what a ‘sustainable florist’ would look like.