The USGBC published a report entitled "Green Building Research Funding: An Assessment of Current Activity in the United States" which suggests that applied research and development to face the challenges of the building sector fell far short of what was actually needed. It referred specifically to the profound impact of the building sector on people and the environment. As a result of the publication the Green Building Research Fund was created. The intention was to stimulate research toward the advancement of sustainable building practices and to promote market transformation.

The USGBC committed $2 million to the program which the Research Fund matched with $1,150,825. The corpus had enabled USGBC to lever matching funds and to stimulate other organizations to step up their own research initiatives. Research pertaining to occupant impact in K–12 schools is of special concern to USGBC for which $500,000 of the fund are allocated.

Immense benefits are expected from the research because of the quality of topics and methodology to be adopted. Among the research topics to be covered were five critical categories of environmental performance within the green building certification system. These included Sustainable Sites, Energy and Atmosphere, Indoor Environmental Quality, Water Efficiency and Materials and Resources.