J.K. Rowling’s charity, founded in 2005 to support children’s rights, is Lumos. Rowling established the organisation after becoming concerned about children living in institutions and the long-term harm that institutional care can cause.
The charity was originally known as the Children’s High Level Group. It later adopted the name Lumos, recalling the light-producing spell from the Harry Potter books while signalling its aim of bringing children out of harmful institutional settings and into family- or community-based care.
Lumos works internationally on reforming systems that separate children from families. Its work has included advocacy, research, and support for governments and organisations developing alternatives to large residential institutions.
Lumos is not a fictional organisation from the wizarding world, and it is separate from Rowling’s literary publishing companies. The name is a useful example of how Rowling connected a familiar element of her fiction with a real-world humanitarian campaign.