What Resources Does FGCCT Provide for Garden Club Officers and Members?

Updated

The Federated Garden Clubs of CT (FGCCT) offers its member clubs a practical support library organized under "Club Corner" and related sections of ctgardenclubs.org. The resources cover four main areas: club operations (event scheduling, news, featured clubs), growth and outreach (membership tips, publicity, fundraising), administration (financial management, taxes, flower show simplification), and programming (speakers, field trips, native plants, pollinators). These are aimed at club officers and active members who need ready-made guidance rather than general gardening content.

Club Corner: Operations and Visibility

Club Corner is the hub for day-to-day club management. According to the site, it includes:

  • Calendar and event scheduling – tools and forms for planning and listing club events
  • Featured Clubs – a spotlight section that gives individual clubs visibility across the federation
  • Club News – a channel for sharing updates among member clubs
  • Field Trips in CT – ideas and listings for club outings within Connecticut
  • "Ideas and How to..." – a catch-all section of practical how-to guidance

If you are a club officer responsible for programming or communications, this is the first section to check. The event scheduling forms and featured club submissions are the most directly actionable items.

Growing and Promoting Your Club

FGCCT provides dedicated guidance for clubs that want to attract and retain members:

Resource What it covers
Increasing Membership Strategies for recruiting new members
How to Publicize Your Event Promoting club events to the public
Ideas for Raising Funds Fundraising approaches for clubs
Financial Management / Taxes Administrative and tax guidance for club officers

These pages are written for volunteer officers, not professional administrators, so they assume you are working with limited time and no dedicated staff. The fundraising and publicity pages are most useful when your club is planning a public-facing event or needs to replenish its budget.

Simplifying Flower Shows and Awards

Flower shows are one of the most resource-intensive activities a garden club undertakes. FGCCT addresses this with:

  • Flower Show Simplified – a streamlined approach to organizing shows
  • Awards Manual and Awards by Category / by Deadline – structured guidance for award submissions
  • Award Recipients – recognition of past winners

The awards section is organized by category and deadline, which lets you work backward from submission dates rather than reading the entire manual. If your club is new to the awards process, start with the Awards Manual and then check the deadline list to see what is currently open.

Speakers, Programs, and Educational Content

For clubs that need meeting programming, FGCCT maintains:

  • Flower Design Speakers / Programs – a resource for booking speakers
  • Horticulture Articles and Environmental and Conservation Articles – ready content for newsletters or meetings
  • Native Plants and Pollinators – topical resource pages
  • Environmental School, Flower Show School, Gardening School, Landscape Design School – structured educational schools (covered in more detail on the education section of the site)

These are useful when your program chair needs to fill a monthly meeting slot or when your club wants to align its programming with conservation themes.

Regional Roundtables and Federation Events

FGCCT hosts monthly 1.5-hour Zoom workshops called Regional Roundtables, led by FGCCT Board Members. According to the site, these provide a "deep dive" on topics including membership, club finances, fundraising, events, flower shows, awards, social media, and youth. Dates, locations, and registration are posted on the events page.

The federation also organizes larger gatherings, including the Connecticut Symposium, the New England Annual Meeting, Club Officers' Day, and the Annual Awards Meeting and Luncheon. The 97th Annual Awards Meeting and Luncheon is listed for October 21, 2026, at the Aqua Turf Club.

How to Access These Resources

Most Club Corner content is publicly viewable. Some areas, such as member-specific forms or the member directory, may require the Member Login available in the site menu. The site also links to national and regional partners — National Garden Clubs, Inc. (NGC) and New England Garden Clubs (NEGC) — which offer additional resources beyond the state level.

For a club officer, the most efficient path is: start with Club Corner for operational forms, check the Roundtables schedule for training on specific topics, and use the awards and flower show pages when your club is preparing submissions or hosting a show.