A group of builders in the Pacific Northwest specializing in sustainable building practices is hoping to enlarge its Code Innovations Database with an online Crowdrise campaign to raise $40,000 by January 7.

The Northwest EcoBuilding Guild, based in Seattle, said that the database already is filled with information about innovative designs, technology, and materials, but the Guild would like to add hundreds more case studies and profiles on green building codes and make it useful to more builders.

Despite 20 years of ground-breaking efforts to advance sustainable building, innovative builders “still face an uphill climb and regulatory hurdles that can slow or even stop their best ideas from being adopted more broadly,” a statement posted at the website says.

The money will be used to publish additional case studies on successful projects, add profiles on innovative green building codes, and advocate for policy innovation.

“EcoBuilders,” as the site calls them, are advocating designs that go beyond LEED certification to meet the requirements of more rigorous programs such as the Living Building Challenge or Passivhaus. According to the Guild, these builders often discover that the process is “fraught with regulatory disconnects from building codes and policies that haven’t caught up with the pace of innovation.

“We can’t let the slow moving, bureaucratic process stall or even stop proven technology from being adopted more broadly,” the group said. “We have to make it easier to build green.”

If information is shared freely between builders, code enforcement officials, and developers, then green building practices can be advanced more rapidly, the group said.