It's still uncertain whether Burning Man, the annual arts festival held in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada, will operate this summer. But Burners are still gathering, albeit virtually, to donate supplies like masks for hospitals and others in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. They're also working with other groups to make it easier for other people to donate through a new website, GetUsPPE.org, a database of hospitals in need of supplies.

A couple weeks ago, Burning Man-goer and Harvard University professor Ethan Garner was prompted by a dean to donate personal protective equipment after his lab was closed. Garner remembered he had masks in a storage bin for Burning Man and knew others who did, too. So he and friends connected with the Burners Without Borders organization, which offered assistance and put out a donation call to the Burning Man community.

Hospitals and healthcare facilities in the U.S. are facing a tight supply of personal protective equipment, including masks and gowns, and groups are springing up to help donate or make supplies to help fill the gap.

"Because there is a large amount of dust in this desert location, Burners tend to have a lot of [personal protective equipment]," Christopher Breedlove, Director of Civic Activation at the Burning Man Project, who oversees programs including Burners Without Borders, told CNBC.

There's also something about the Burning Man values that lends itself well to an effort like this, he said.

"Every year, we build a city for 80,000 in the desert, and it's all of the citizens themselves that create the systems and the protocols for the city," he said. "We tend to be group of people who know how to prototype social solutions."