Lumos (charity)

Lumos, formerly known as Children's High Level Group, is an international non-governmental charity (NGO) founded by the author of Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling, which promotes an end to the institutionalisation of children worldwide.

Lumos
Formation2005 (relaunched as Lumos in 2010)
TypeNGO/Charity
PurposeChildren/young people's welfare; health/education/social care; family support
Location
  • London, UK (head office)
Region served
Global
Founder and president
J. K. Rowling
Main organ
Board of Trustees, chaired by Neil Blair
WebsiteOfficial website

History
Previous logo (2010-2021).

In 2004, after seeing an article in The Sunday Times about children being kept in caged beds in institutions, J. K. Rowling felt compelled to address the problem. She said: "I looked at that photograph of the boy in his cage bed and felt he had absolutely no voice. This touched me as nothing else had because I can think of nobody more powerless than a child, perhaps, with a mental or a physical disability, locked away from their family. It was a very shocking realization to me and that's where the whole thing started."[1] As a result, she co-founded the Children's High Level Group with Emma Nicholson to address the problem of institutionalised and disadvantaged children in Eastern Europe. The Children's High Level Group was later relaunched as Lumos.[2] The name Lumos comes from a light-giving spell in the Harry Potter books. Rowling stood down as a trustee in 2013 but continued as the charity's president.[3]

Lumos and other organisations have worked to encourage the European Commission to establish regulations that state that fundings to EU Member States must be used for community services, not to build or renovate residential institutions. Even before the regulations were passed, as a result of years of advocacy and awareness-raising, this principle of funding supporting 'deinstitutionalization' (DI) had already helped divert more than €367 million of EU funding away from institutions towards community services.[4]

Georgette Mulheir stepped down as CEO in 2020 after trustees identified "management and cultural challenges" and commissioned independent reviews into governance and culture.[5] The charity has received 19 reviews on the employee ratings website, Glassdoor, and has an overall score of 2.4 out of 5.[6]

Peter McDermott joined as CEO in June 2021 succeeding Interim CEO, Sir Roger Singleton.[7][8]

Board of trustees

Neil Blair, J.K. Rowling’s agent and Chairman of Pottermore, is the Chair of the Board of Trustees.[9] Other trustees include: Billy DiMichele (Senior Vice President of Scholastic), Danny Cohen (President of Access Entertainment), Tanya Motie, Neena Gill CBE, and Nick Pasricha.[10]

The Lumos Foundation USA Board is headed by Billy DiMichele as chairman, other members are Leslie Little who serves as Treasurer and Liz Robbins.[11]

References
  1. "Our Founder and Life President - Lumos".
  2. "8 times when J. K. Rowling made headlines". The Times of India. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  3. "CEO of charity founded by JK Rowling to step down after board finds 'culture challenges'". www.civilsociety.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  4. "Award: Zero Project Innovative Policy & Innovative Practice 2015". 19 January 2016.
  5. "CEO of charity founded by JK Rowling to step down after board finds 'culture challenges'". www.civilsociety.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  6. "Working at Lumos Foundation".
  7. "Peter McDermott appointed as CEO of Lumos".
  8. "Charity founded by Harry Potter author appoints chief executive".
  9. "Neil Blair".
  10. "Lumos Board of Trustees".
  11. "Lumos Foundation USA Board".
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