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Mr Kirk, chief executive of media company Fairfax Australia, used his personal funds to pay for the full-page advertisement in yesterday's Fairfax-owned Sunday Star Times newspaper, which launched the lobby group's national publicity campaign.
Contacted last night, Mr Sydney said he and Mr Kirk had been friends for some years and Mr Kirk had visited him last month.
During a discussion about Save Central's challenge to Meridian Energy's proposed $1.5 billion Project Hayes wind farm northwest of Dunedin, Mr Kirk offered to pay for the advertisement.
"He said he wanted to be a supporter and he offered to help," Mr Sydney said.
"We were delighted to accept."
He said he did not know how much the advertisement had cost.
No other high profile people had offered to pay for advertisements or other campaign costs, he said.
"We hope they will.
''A campaign like this is a very expensive business, especially to run a high-quality legal team . . . and we are totally dependent on outside help."
Mr Sydney estimated Save Central had spent about $100,000 so far on Project Hayes' legal expenses.
"We haven't actually raised that much yet.
"We are working in good faith with our legal team."
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