BACKGROUND: Umbilical cord blood units collected by Canadian Blood Services for public banking at selected collection hospitals may not meet stringent criteria for release to the bank's inventory and can be used to support research. The Cord Blood for Research Program (CB4RP) was established when the CBS bank was established, but the breadth of research activity supported by the CB4RP has not been previously described. METHODS: Records of projects and units requested to support research were reviewed and summarized from September 2014 to October 2024. RESULTS: A total of 34 projects have been supported by the CB4RP, with a total of 2901 units requested (85.4 units per project, range 6-540). To date, 1505 fresh units and 28 frozen units have been shipped to researchers. Areas of research supported by the CB4RP include hematopoietic cell transplant research, regenerative therapy, immunology research, cancer research, transfusion research, and other categories. CONCLUSION: Distributing non-qualifying cord blood units for research leverages the public investments implicated in establishing the CBS CBB and supports the development of expertise across a broad range of research areas.