High Desert Institute
Building a Foundation for the Survival of Humanity
GoFundMe: Help Us Buy Land GoFundMe: Indigenous Solidarity & Endangered Species Gardens GoFundMe: Help Us Build the Cyberpony Express
What We Do
The High Desert Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to building a foundation for the survival of humanity. We are focused on accomplishing this through off-grid land projects, libraries, and guilds.
A group of seasoned experts from the off-grid community-building world are fundraising to create a series of new land projects in the high deserts of the southwest. These outposts will be centers for permaculture and mutual aid, designed to build a foundation for the survival of humanity. These new land projects will facilitate research, development, and distribution of free, open-source solutions to basic human needs like housing and off-grid infrastructure.
None of us are getting paid, every dollar goes to the mission. The entire process will be completely transparent and open source. Every dollar donated means the world and makes a huge difference!
Guilds: Find Your People
| Guild | Description | ||||||||||||
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| Artificers' Guild | ⛏️ Builders and creators, artificers shape the physical world, crafting shelters that blend with the desert’s beauty. | ||||||||||||
| Astromancers' Guild | Exploring the cosmos through advanced radio astronomy and gravity wave research, Astromancers seeking to unlock the secrets of the universe. | ||||||||||||
Projects of Astromancers' Guild:
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| Complex Futures Guild | The guild that turns data from sensors, surveys, and archives into models, forecasts, and strategies which drive concrete policy briefs, campaigns, and trainings for communities. | ||||||||||||
Projects of Complex Futures Guild:
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| Energimancers' Guild | ⚡️Innovators of power, Energimancers harness renewable energies, lighting our path to a sustainable future. | ||||||||||||
Projects of Energimancers' Guild:
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| Faunamancers' Guild | Companions to animals, Faunamancers ensure harmonious coexistince between the community and the local wildlife, ensuring the preservation of desert ecosystems and biodiversity. | ||||||||||||
| Floramancers' Guild | 🌱Tenders of flora, Floramancers cultivate beauty and biodiversity, enriching our desert home. | ||||||||||||
| Frontier Fusion Guild | Delving into the fundamental building blocks of reality, the Frontier Fusion Guild conducts high-energy particle physics experiments, including groundbreaking nuclear fusion research. | ||||||||||||
| Fundweavers' Guild | Specializing in weaving together resources and opportunities, Fundweavers expertly navigate the realms of grant applications and other forms of fundraising to support and sustain the institute’s endeavors. | ||||||||||||
Projects of Fundweavers' Guild:
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| Gastronomers' Guild | Guardians of nourishment, Gastronomers work with the earth to bring forth bountiful harvests, sustaining our community. | ||||||||||||
| Hydromancers' Guild | 💧Stewards of water, Hydromancers conjure fresh water from thin air and channel the precious resource, ensuring life flourishes in the arid expanse. | ||||||||||||
Projects of Hydromancers' Guild:
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| Lorekeepers' Guild | 📚Custodians of knowledge, Lorekeepers preserve the wisdom of the ages and foster the exchange of ideas. | ||||||||||||
Projects of Lorekeepers' Guild:
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| Pathfinders' Guild | Maintain safe and accessible pathways for off-grid travel, ensuring community members can move freely through the desert landscape as well as the digital landscape between the outposts and other communities. | ||||||||||||
Projects of Pathfinders' Guild:
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| Pyromancers' Guild | 🔥Masters of fire, Pyromancers ensure warmth and energy, turning the desert chill into a cozy embrace. | ||||||||||||
High Desert Outposts
🌄 High Ground
Status: Fundraising
Location: Grand Canyon, Arizona
A flagship build focused on developing and sharing the most accessible, sustainable, and code-compliant off-grid housing plans.
💧 Sky Spring
Status: Waiting...
Location: Joshua Tree, California
Focused on demonstrating off-grid infrastructure: water, power, and waste systems.
❄️ The People’s Winter Palace
Status: Ongoing Discussion
Location: Tucson, Arizona
A warm desert outpost where nomads and travelers can congregate with likeminded folk during winter months.
Our Previous Land Projects Together
(We do have several other land projects in common, but these are the public ones...)
Emberfield
The moneyless intentional community featured in our recent TV show. Out of it came the Radical Raccoon How-To Guide and the dream of HDI in the southwest.
Pirates' Cove
A 16-acre off-grid community on Dale Hollow Lake, Tennessee. Hundreds of us helped build this project after a successful GoFundMe campaign in 2022.
The Garden
The Garden was where many involved in HDI first met.
Joe Whisher
An expert in organizational leadership, Joe has spent time at traditional intentional communities including volunteering at both The Garden and Pirate’s Cove, but he is a maverick thinker who focuses on how these processes and systems could work better. This vital critical lens is the central value proposition of HDI; thinking about things in new ways and always considering how our systems and processes could work better.
Julia Heim
A seasoned expert in crowdfunding and land-trust-incorporation, Julia’s invaluable contributions to organizational governance and consensus-building have proven instrumental to the success of land projects like Emberfield and Pirate’s Cove. Julia has participated in more than half a dozen new land projects and volunteered at intentional community projects criss-crossing the globe from Costa Rica to Nepal across the last decade.
CJ Trowbridge
An expert in sustainable infrastructure with multiple advanced degrees from San Francisco State University, CJ also comes to this project with the experience of having helped build half-a dozen new land projects and having also volunteered at countless others including collaborations with Arcosanti, Arizona Department of Agriculture, and the Rocky Mountain Institute.
'If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.'
— Cicero
'Lets help everyone do that.'
— HDI
Blog Posts and Updates:
Architecture Migration: One HDI Repo To Unify Them All
November 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Cyberpony Express at Burning Man 2025
September 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Board Meeting Minutes: Workshop recap, financial update, next steps
April 25, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Cyberpony Express - Opsec in AI and Meshtastic
April 16, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Cyberpony Express - Siting and Outreach Workshop
April 03, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Cyberpony Express - Meshtastic Hardware Strategy and Development
March 27, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Cyberpony Express - Initial Workshop Recap
March 19, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Board Meeting Minutes: Financial Report, Cyberpony Express Recap, and Upcoming Workshops
March 17, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Exciting News about Cyberpony Express Partnerships and Upcoming Workshop
March 07, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Board Meeting Minutes: Rules Adopted, Outside Volunteer Opportunities, and Nuclear Fusion Reactor Project Update
February 11, 2025 at 12:00 AM