J.K. Rowling to Match Donations up to £1m for Ukraine’s Children

J.K. Rowling has this morning announced that she will match any donations, up to up to £1 million, made to her charity Lumos. The money will directly go to children’s care in Ukraine.

The Harry Potter author founded the Lumos charity in 2005, and it has worked to end the institutionalisation of children across the world since. Their latest fundraising drive comes in response to the growing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

According to The Sunday Times’ 2021 Rich List, Rowling has a personal wealth of £820m. This makes her the wealthiest author (in terms of money earned directly from her writing) in history, as well as the first author to surpass the $1 billion mark.

I will personally match donations to this appeal, up to £1m. Thank you so, so much to all who’ve already donated, you’re enabling @lumos to do crucial work for some of the most vulnerable children in Ukraine. https://t.co/XK8yTtB1nl

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 7, 2022

Lumos describes its mission as to “fight for every child’s right to a family”, pointing out that most children in the world who live in orphanages actually have families. Families, Lumos argues, need assistance raising their children, rather than having them taken away. Since 2009, the charity has helped over 31,000 children avoid orphanages and harmful institutions. 

The charity was working in Ukraine already, before Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24th. In January of this year, they shared a story reuniting a family who had previously had to live separately due to financial difficulties. 

Lumos began work in Ukraine in 2013. Since then, “four institutions have been closed and six are in the process of transformation, reducing the number of institutionalised children in the demonstration region by 48%.

“Lumos is supporting Ukrainian authorities at national and regional levels to implement holistic care reform, guaranteeing the right of children to grow up in families. We’ve supported the development of policy and regulatory frameworks, as well as providing training to over 3,000 decision-makers and professionals.”

You can make a donation to support Lumos’ work in Ukraine, here.