Media

JK’s new charity conjures up £1.7m to help children

Mail on Sunday
November 18 2007
Author: Toby McDonald

JK ROWLING’S fledgling children’s charity received an impressive £1.7 million in donations in its first 12 months, it was revealed yesterday.

Most of the cash came from anonymous donors, with the philanthropic writer believed to be the largest single contributor, handing over up to a £1 million.

Miss Rowling, who is worth around £550 million, cofounded and co-chairs the charity, called the Children’s High Level Group, with MEP Baroness Emma
Nicholson.

It has been fighting abuses of youngsters in Eastern Europe, including the growing problem of child trafficking.

Harry Potter author Miss Rowling will next month give the organisation a further boost by handing over the proceeds from the sale of a handwritten,
jewel-encrusted book.

Only seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard were made. Six have been handed over to the author’s friends and family and the remaining volume will be auctioned on December 13, when it is expected to fetch over £50,000.

Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the charity refused to discuss the size of Miss Rowling’s donations but added: ‘Certainly, it is something she feels very
strongly about.

‘She is co-chair of the board, and is obviously involved in meetings. She is frequently in London, and she has visited a couple of the charity’s projects in
Eastern Europe too.

‘We are really delighted with the auction of this really special book  it is an opportunity for us to use some of Jo’s leverage and celebrity to help the
charity.’ Miss Rowling first became aware of the problems in Eastern Europe in 2003 after reading a newspaper article describing how children were kept in ‘caged beds’ in Czech Republic psychiatric institutions.

The mother-of-three said: ‘The photograph that accompanied the article  of a very young boy staring through wire mesh at the camera  is still branded on my memory; in fact, it was so disturbing that when my eyes first fell on it my immediate instinct was to turn the page quickly so as not to have to look.

‘However, immediately ashamed of my cowardly impulse, I smoothed the newspaper out again and read the article from beginning to end, swearing that if the text matched the picture in horror, I’d try and do something about it.’ She set up the Children’s High Level Group with human rights campaigner Baroness Nicholson, who was the EU’s representative in Romania The aims of the UK registered charity is to relieve ‘poverty and sickness’ and prevent ‘cruelty to or maltreatment of children in any part of the world’.

Its first financial reports, published this month, show it received £1.704 million in donations in its first year. After deducting fundraising, administration and staff costs, £1.347 million will go to help children in Eastern Europe.

A charity spokeswoman said: ‘It is about education, welfare, and funding replacement families for the one million children in institutions across Europe
to go to.’ Yesterday, a spokesman for Miss Rowling refused to confirm how much she had donated.

‘JK Rowling definitely would not divulge what her donation, if any, has been to that charity. It’s a private affair for her,’ she added.

The author is patron of three charities: the National Council for One Parent Families, the MS Society of Scotland and Maggie’s Centres.