J.K. Rowling’s charity founded in 2005 to help end institutionalisation of children is Lumos.
Rowling co-founded the organisation, originally called the Children’s High Level Group, with the politician Emma Nicholson. The group was inspired partly by a 2004 newspaper article showing children living in harmful conditions in institutions in Eastern Europe. It changed its name to Lumos in 2010, taking the name from a light-producing spell in the Harry Potter books.
Lumos works to replace large residential institutions with family- and community-based care. Its focus includes children who are separated from families because of poverty, disability or social disadvantage. The organisation also advocates for changes in government policy and supports care reforms in several countries.
Lumos is not a literary award or a Harry Potter fan organisation. Its name is a reference to Rowling’s fiction, but its work concerns children’s rights and welfare. The charity’s founding name, Children’s High Level Group, is therefore a common alternative answer in historical accounts, while Lumos is the current name.