Amnesty International
As a postgraduate, J.K. Rowling worked at the London office of Amnesty International, doing research into human rights abuses in Francophone Africa.
www.amnesty.org.uk
J.K. Rowling
Charities
Gingerbread
For seven years J.K. Rowling was an Ambassador of One Parent Families, now called Gingerbread, a charity working with lone parents and their children. In 2007 J.K. Rowling took an honorary position as President of the charity.
www.gingerbread.org.uk
Lumos
J.K. Rowling co-founded the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) with Baroness Emma Nicholson MEP, in 2005. She was moved to do so by an article reporting that children were sleeping in caged beds, in institutions in the Czech Republic. A special edition of J.K. Rowling’s book The Tales of Beedle the Bard was auctioned for CHLG in 2007, raising £1.95 million, and the following year this title was published in aid of the charity, quickly becoming the fastest-selling book of the year. In 2010 the charity became Lumos, and changed its remit slightly: it now works to end the systematic institutionalisation of children across Europe and help them find safer, more caring places to live.
http://wearelumos.org/
Multiple Sclerosis Society
For ten years J.K. Rowling was a supporter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland, including nine years as its Patron. Her support included planning and hosting fundraising events, lobbying, and raising awareness of the disease, as well as contributing significant funds for research in Scotland. She stepped down as Patron of the charity in 2009 but continues to fund MS research directly through the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic.
Volant
J.K. Rowling supports a number of charities and causes through her charitable trust, Volant. In the main, Volant offers assistance to projects that are related to alleviating social deprivation, with an emphasis on women’s and children’s issues.
www.volanttrust.comOther Organisations
Other organisations J.K. Rowling has supported include Comic Relief, for which she has written two short books which appear as the titles of Harry Potter’s school books within the novels; The Maggie’s Centres for Cancer Care, of which she was a Patron for several years; the UK Labour Party, to which she donated £1 million in 2008, and Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, in aid of which she performed in an event with authors Stephen King and John Irving in New York in 2006, and contributed to a book in aid of the charity, Dear Me: More Letters to My 16-year Old Self, in 2011.
In 2010, J.K. Rowling donated £10 million for the foundation of a new clinic at the University of Edinburgh. In addition to conducting major research into neuroregeneration, the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic will support patients with multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases. The facility is named after her mother, who died of multiple sclerosis aged 45, and will open officially in 2013.
-
Body content
-
Footer content
-
Other links