Lumos is J.K. Rowling’s charitable organization focused on disadvantaged children.
Rowling founded Lumos in 2005, originally as the Children’s High Level Group. The organization was created after a newspaper article about children living in institutions in Eastern Europe prompted her to act. It later adopted the name Lumos, referring to a light-producing spell in the Harry Potter stories.
Lumos campaigns to end the institutionalization of children and to help governments develop family- and community-based care. Its work has included advocacy, research, and support for projects intended to reunite children with families or place them in safer family settings.
The charity’s name is sometimes confused with fictional wizarding terms such as Hogwarts or Dumbledore’s Army. Lumos is not a Harry Potter organization inside the story; it is a real-world nonprofit established by Rowling.