Impact Category Guide

Answer/Plant Clinics are locations, both physical and virtual, where we respond to inquiries from the public about horticulture, plant and landscape problems, and sustainable gardening and landscape practices through face-to-face, telephone, video or email contact.

Answer/Plant Clinics activities include:

• Regularly scheduled clinic shifts and approved pop-up clinic shifts
• Clinic setup and teardown time for volunteers who also work the clinic shift at a physical location
• Email Clinic responses
• Diagnostic Laboratory shifts

Activities NOT recorded under Answer/Plant Clinics include:

• Clinic Group meetings (use Program Support)
• Administrative or support activities, including clinic planning, clinic scheduling, and maintenance of Clinic Resource Boxes (use Program Support)
• Clinic setup and teardown time for volunteers who do NOT work the clinic shift (use Program Support)

Continuing Education activities are preapproved, research and science-based, educational opportunities that improve an Extension Master Gardener’s knowledge and skill base for performing work as a community educator, horticultural advisor and resource on issues of sustainable home gardening in the Puget Sound region.

Approved Continuing Education activities:

• Scheduled events published monthly in the Approved Continuing Education section of the Volunteer Portal

• Pre-recorded online content (available any time) published in the Approved Continuing Education section of the Volunteer Portal
• WSU Extension Master Gardener Program Staying Mission Driven meetings (register in GivePulse)

• Activities offered as continuing education (but not social activities) at the annual WSU Extension Master Gardener Advanced Education Conference

• Other events and content designated as approved continuing education for Extension Master Gardeners in official communications from the Program

• Actual time spent researching content to develop or update an approved educational presentation, up to a maximum of four times the presentation length (use Other Educational Delivery for excess research time)

• Actual time spent learning an approved educational presentation developed by someone else, in preparation for presenting it to others, up to a maximum of four times the presentation length (use Other Educational Delivery for excess time learning a new presentation before presenting it)

Activities requiring preapproval BEFORE submitting for Continuing Education credit:

NOTE: Submit proposed activities at https://wsu.givepulse.com/survey/take/CtqZ9I6YdchEN0JUZdgl; review capacity is limited and proposals will be reviewed as time allows

• Classes, workshops and webinars not included on our preapproved lists, and offered by:
  • Accredited educational institutions in our region, including community colleges, technical colleges and universities
  • Puget Sound area nonprofit organizations, such as Bellevue Botanical Garden, Northwest Perennial Alliance, Tilth Alliance, etc.
  • Puget Sound area municipal entities or municipal corporations, such as the City of Seattle or City of Bellevue
  • Symposia or conferences
  • For-profit businesses, such as nursery classes or magazine webinars
• Docent-led tours providing horticultural education relevant to gardening in the Puget Sound region
• Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) approved pesticide certification training classes that pertain to home gardener application (not those pertaining only to commercial application)
• Actual time spent researching content for writing an approved educational article, up to a maximum of four hours (use Other Educational Delivery for excess research time)
• Post-graduate assignments pertinent to our role as advisors to home gardeners
• Other activities, which may include training on non-horticultural topics needed to perform Program functions

Activities NOT eligible for Continuing Education:

• Classes covering arts and crafts, photography, wildlife, livestock, marijuana, mushrooms, food foraging, cooking, food safety/preservation, health/medicine or other non-horticulture topics
• Trips and tours not preapproved by the Program Coordinator
• Personal research or reading not related to a pre-authorized WSU Extension Master Gardener project
• Book club activities
• Other content that is not applicable for use in educating home gardeners about sustainable gardening in the Puget Sound region (e.g., classes focused on commercial agriculture)
• Travel time to and from events or activities
• Any activity outside the state of Washington, unless preapproved by the WSU Extension State Master Gardener Program Leader
• Other activities and content as may be deemed ineligible at the discretion of the Program Coordinator

Demonstration Gardens are outdoor classrooms where WSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers teach classes, hold workshops and demonstrations, and host field days.

Demonstration Gardens activities include:

• Teaching in the garden about plant selection, maintenance and sustainable gardening practices
• Preparation of educational materials, including fact sheets, plant lists, and labels and signs for use in the garden
• Garden planning and design
• Creation, planting and maintenance of WSU Extension King County Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens
• Harvesting, weighing, recording and delivering crops for donation to approved entities

Activities NOT recorded under Demonstration Gardens include:

• Administrative meetings and activities, including scheduling, budget planning and communications (use Program Support)
• Coaching and guidance to students and staff at preapproved school gardens (use Youth Outreach)
• Work to support a Master Gardener Foundation Plant Sale, including all planning, planting, watering, potting, setup, sales, support, and teardown activities for the sale (use Program Support)
• Maintenance of parks, community gardens or other areas that are not approved WSU Extension King County Master Gardener Demonstration Gardens (these activities are not eligible for volunteer hours, unless preapproved by the Program Coordinator)

Other Educational Delivery activities include delivering approved educational presentations or writing and publishing approved educational articles for the public and/or other Extension Master Gardeners.

Other Educational Delivery activities include:

• Actual time spent creating, updating, practicing or delivering approved Extension Master Gardener educational presentations
• Actual time spent writing, editing and publishing educational articles approved by the Program for publication under an Extension Master Gardener byline (e.g., “by Extension Master Gardener Jane Smith”)
• Research time in excess of the Continuing Education allowance when developing educational content (see Continuing Education section for limitations and requirements)
• Time spent learning a new presentation in excess of the Continuing Education allowance for presenters (see Continuing Education section for limitations and requirements)
• Northwest Flower & Garden Festival booth shifts
• Other activities as instructed by the Program Office

Activities NOT recorded under Other Educational Delivery include:

• Developing or delivering materials that are NOT approved as Extension Master Gardener education presentations
• Writing articles that are not approved by the Program for publication under an Extension Master Gardener byline
• Administrative time (Zoom hosting, supporting or coordinating) by anyone other than the presenter at an educational presentation or event (use Program Support)
• Attending a lecture or presentation as a learner (use Continuing Education; see Continuing Education section for content eligibility requirements)

Program Support activities are those which do not deliver education, but support the Program or the Foundation through planning, implementing, and delivering projects, events and materials. Examples include administrative support, committee work, meetings, planning, and fundraising.

Program Support activities include:

• Administrative, planning and scheduling work performed on behalf of the Program Office, clinic groups, demonstration gardens, youth programs or other approved activities and events
• Maintenance of Clinic Resource Boxes by Clinic Information Coordinators
• Leadership team or committee work
• Attending meetings for clinic groups, gardens, leadership teams and committees
• Serving on the Foundation Board or Foundation Committees
• Foundation fundraising activities
• Extension Master Gardener Plant Sales (also a Foundation fundraising activity), including all planning, planting, watering, potting, setup, sales, support, and teardown activities for the sale, EXCEPT the following:
  • Working a clinic shift at a plant sale (use Answer/Plant Clinics)
  • Delivering approved Extension Master Gardener educational content at a plant sale (use Other Educational Delivery
• Assisting with setup and teardown at a physical clinic location when NOT working the clinic shift (volunteers who DO work the clinic shift will include their setup and teardown time in their Answer/Plant Clinics entry)

WSU Extension Master Gardener volunteers teach horticulture and environmental stewardship education to youth. Common activities where WSU Extension Master Gardeners engage youth include school gardens, community gardens, junior master gardener programs, classroom activities and lessons, and age-appropriate curriculum development.

Note: If a volunteer is considering being the primary supervisor for youth participants, they must first have training and authorization from the Program Office.

Youth Outreach activities include:

• Public contact activities, including classroom activities and lessons, occurring as part of a WSU Extension Master Gardener youth outreach program
• Development of age-appropriate curriculum for WSU Extension Master Gardener youth outreach programs, including Teaching Kit curricula and youth-oriented content for the Program website
• Organized youth education events, youth teaching sessions or youth tours NOT held in a WSU Extension Master Gardener Demonstration Garden