Help Us Build Aotearoa’s First Natural Hydrogen Lab
From a small lab in Hawke’s Bay to a cleaner, fairer energy future — your support helps bring The Auri Project to life.
What Is The Auri Project?
The Auri Project is a world-first effort to create ethical, natural, carbon-negative hydrogen by learning from the Earth’s own geology.
Instead of drilling or burning fossil fuels, we’re developing a small reactor that gently mimics a natural rock-and-water reaction to make clean hydrogen — the way nature already does it deep underground.
Our aim is simple and bold:
Clean, affordable hydrogen for communities, created in a way that helps the planet heal instead of harm.
What Your Support Makes Possible in the Next 12 Months
Your contribution will help fund:
Lab space: modest rental for a small, safe work area in Hawke’s Bay.
Bench equipment: basic tables, vessels, fittings, sensors and monitoring gear.
Safety: PPE, hydrogen & oxygen detectors, extinguishers and emergency setup.
Materials: olivine rock, water treatment, valves, piping and test hardware.
Documentation & compliance: logging, safety procedures, and reporting needed for future grants and partners.
Put simply:
Every dollar helps turn Auri from a concept on paper into a real, working experiment.
Why We’re Asking for Help Now
Right now, Auri is at the bench-lab stage. The science is designed, the safety and ethics groundwork is in place, and the provisional patent is filed — but we still need to build the first small lab setup here in Hawke’s Bay.
We’re using Givealittle to:
Take the first physical step: a safe, basic lab where we can begin early experiments.
Show community support as we apply for ECCT and other grants.
Keep the project independent of fossil-fuel influence and corporate capture.
This is the “seed phase” — the quiet beginning that makes everything else possible.
From One Small Lab to Community Energy
We’re starting small, but the vision is big:
Community-scale Auri Reactors that produce clean hydrogen locally.
Lower energy costs and more resilience for towns, marae, farms and community hubs.
Carbon-negative hydrogen that locks away CO₂ instead of releasing it.
An Aotearoa-born technology that can one day help communities around the world.
Your support doesn’t just buy equipment —
it helps prove that ordinary people and small nations can lead with kind, intelligent energy.
Questions You Might Have
Do I get shares or a financial return?
No. This Givealittle campaign is donation-based, not an investment offer. You’re supporting early-stage research and development because you believe in what Auri stands for.
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Not at this stage. The Auri Project is not yet a registered charity, so donations are not currently tax-deductible. In future, we may explore structures that allow that.
Will there be public or investor opportunities later?
Yes. As the lab work progresses and the patent is completed, we plan to pursue grant funding (e.g. ECCT, MBIE) and later public investment through platforms like Snowball Effect. This Givealittle phase is about getting us safely to that point.
Be Part of the Beginning
Every world-changing project starts with people who believe in it before it’s fashionable or obvious.
If Auri resonates with you — if you want to see clean, natural hydrogen developed ethically here in Aotearoa — your support now means the world.
Thank you for helping us let the Earth breathe again.