Philanthropy Draft 1
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Aware of the good fortune that led to her wealth and fame,[3] and wanting to use her public image to help others despite her concerns about publicity and the press, Rowling became, in the words of Smith, "emboldened ... to stand up and be counted on issues that were important to her".[4] In 2000, while she was still writing the Harry Potter series, Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust, named after her mother.[5] Its mission is to "alleviate social deprivation, with a particular emphasis on supporting women, children and young people at risk".[6] Together with the MEP Emma Nicholson,[7] Rowling founded the Children's High Level Group (now Lumos) in 2005.[5] She was appointed president of the charity One Parent Families (now Gingerbread) in 2004,[8] after becoming its first ambassador in 2000.[5] She also collaborated with Sarah Brown[9] on the writing of a book of children's stories to benefit One Parent Families.[5] Rowling's charitable donations before 2012 were estimated by Forbes at $160 million.[1] She was the second most generous UK donor in 2015 (following the singer Elton John), giving about $14 million.[10] Lumos has advocated for reform in orphanage care in Ukraine since 2013, working with an orphanage west of Kyiv.[11][12] After the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rowling stated that she will personally match up to £1 million in donations made towards an emergency appeal launched by Lumos.[13] Rowling has made donations to support medical causes. She named another institution after her mother when, in 2010, she donated £10 million to found a multiple sclerosis research centre at the University of Edinburgh.[14] She gave an additional £15.3 million to the centre in 2019.[15] During the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, accompanied by an inflatable representation of Lord Voldemort,[16] she read from Peter Pan as part of a tribute to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.[17] To support COVID-19 relief, she donated six-figure sums to both Khalsa Aid and the British Asian Trust from royalties for The Ickabog.[18] Several publications in the Harry Potter universe have been sold for charitable purposes. Profits from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, both published in 2001, went to Comic Relief.[5] To support Children's Voice, later renamed Lumos, Rowling sold a deluxe copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard at auction in 2007. Amazon's £1.95 million purchase set a record for a contemporary literary work and for children's literature.[19][20] Rowling published the book and, in 2013, donated the proceeds of nearly £19 million (then about $30 million) to Lumos.[21][22] Rowling and 12 other writers composed short pieces in 2008 to be sold to benefit Dyslexia Action and English PEN. Rowling's contribution was an 800-word Harry Potter prequel.[23][a] When the revelation that Rowling wrote The Cuckoo's Calling led to an increase in sales,[2] she donated the royalties to ABF The Soldiers' Charity (formerly the Army Benevolent Fund).[5][25] |
Aware of the good fortune that led to her wealth and fame,[3] Rowling wanted to use her public image to help others despite her concerns about publicity and the press; she became, in the words of Smith, "emboldened ... to stand up and be counted on issues that were important to her".[4] Rowling's charitable donations before 2012 were estimated by Forbes at $160 million.[1] She was the second most generous UK donor in 2015 (following the singer Elton John), giving about $14 million.[26]
Long interested in issues affecting women and children,[27] Rowling established the Volant Charitable Trust in 2000, named after her mother[5] to address social deprivation in at-risk women, children and youth.[28] She was appointed president of One Parent Families (now Gingerbread) in 2004,[29] after becoming its first ambassador in 2000.[5] She collaborated with Sarah Brown[30] on a book of children's stories to benefit One Parent Families.[5] Together with the MEP Emma Nicholson,[31] Rowling founded the charity now known as Lumos in 2005.[5] Lumos has worked with an orphanage west of Kyiv, Ukraine since 2013;[32][33] after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rowling offered to personally match up to £1 million in donations to Lumos for Ukraine.[34] Later in 2022, during her advocacy against the proposed Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, Rowling stated she would found and fund Beira's Place, a women-centred rape help center to provide free support services for female-only survivors of sexual violence;[27][35] with long wait times at existing facilities, Rape Crisis Scotland welcomed the services while noting rape crisis centres in Scotland had served trans and non-binary people without incident.[36] Rowling has made donations to support other medical causes. She named another institution after her mother in 2010, when she donated £10 million to found a multiple sclerosis research centre at the University of Edinburgh.[37] She gave an additional £15.3 million to the centre in 2019.[38] During the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, accompanied by an inflatable representation of Lord Voldemort,[39] she read from Peter Pan as part of a tribute to the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.[40] To support COVID-19 relief, she donated six-figure sums to both Khalsa Aid and the British Asian Trust from royalties for The Ickabog.[18] Several publications in the Harry Potter universe have been sold for charitable purposes. Profits from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, both published in 2001, went to Comic Relief.[5] To support Children's Voice, later renamed Lumos, Rowling sold a deluxe copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard at auction in 2007. Amazon's £1.95 million purchase set a record for a contemporary literary work and for children's literature.[41][20] Rowling published the book and, in 2013, donated the proceeds of nearly £19 million (then about $30 million) to Lumos.[42][43] Rowling and 12 other writers composed short pieces in 2008 to be sold to benefit Dyslexia Action and English PEN. Rowling's contribution was an 800-word Harry Potter prequel.[44][b] When the revelation that Rowling wrote The Cuckoo's Calling led to an increase in sales,[2] she donated the royalties to ABF The Soldiers' Charity (formerly the Army Benevolent Fund).[5][45] |
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Draft 4
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| Transgender people
In December 2019, Rowling tweeted her support for Maya Forstater, a British woman who initially lost her employment tribunal case (Maya Forstater v Centre for Global Development) but won on appeal against her former employer, the Center for Global Development, after her contract was not renewed due to her comments about transgender people.[1][2][3] Rowling wrote on Twitter, "Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who'll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?"[4] On 6 June 2020, Rowling tweeted criticism of the phrase "people who menstruate",[5] and stated "If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives."[6] Rowling's tweets were criticised by GLAAD, who called them "cruel" and "anti-trans".[7][8] Some members of the cast of the Harry Potter film series criticised Rowling's views or spoke out in support of trans rights, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright, and Katie Leung, as did Fantastic Beasts lead actor Eddie Redmayne and the fansites MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron.[9][10][11] The actress Noma Dumezweni (who played Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) initially expressed support for Rowling but backtracked following criticism.[12] On 10 June 2020, Rowling published a 3,600-word essay on her website in response to the criticism.[13][14] She again wrote that many women consider terms like "people who menstruate" to be demeaning. She said that she was a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault, and stated that "When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman ... then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside", while stating that most trans people were vulnerable and deserved protection.[15] Rowling's essay was criticised by, among others, the children's charity Mermaids (which supports transgender and gender non-conforming children and their parents), Stonewall, GLAAD and the feminist gender theorist Judith Butler.[16][17][18][19][20][21] Rowling has been referred to as a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) on multiple occasions, though she rejects the label.[22] Rowling has received support from actors Robbie Coltrane[23] and Eddie Izzard,[24] and some feminists[25] such as activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali[26] and the radical feminist Julie Bindel.[25] The BBC nominated her essay for its annual Russell Prize for best writing.[27][28] In August 2020, Rowling returned her Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award after Kerry Kennedy released a statement expressing her "profound disappointment" in Rowling's "attacks upon the transgender community", which Kennedy called "inconsistent with the fundamental beliefs and values of RFK Human Rights and ... a repudiation of my father's vision".[29][30][31] Rowling stated that she was "deeply saddened" by Kennedy's statement, but maintained that no award would encourage her to "forfeit the right to follow the dictates" of her conscience.[29] |
To be determined
Rowling's responses to proposed changes to UK gender recognition laws,[32][33][a] and her views on sex and gender, have provoked controversy.[36] Her statements have divided feminists;[37][38][39] fuelled freedom of speech[40][41] and academic freedom debates;[35] and prompted support for transgender people from the literary,[42] arts,[43] and culture sectors.[44] When Maya Forstater's employment contract with London's Center for Global Development was not renewed after she tweeted gender-critical views,[45][46] Rowling responded with a December 2019 tweet that transgender people should live their lives as they pleased in "peace and security", but questioned women being "force[d] out of their jobs for stating that sex is real".[46][b] In another controversial tweet in June 2020,[50] Rowling mocked an article[51] for using the phrase "people who menstruate", and tweeted that women's rights and "lived reality" would be "erased" if "sex isn't real".[52][53] LGBT charities and leading actors of the Wizarding World franchise condemned Rowling's comments;[54][55][c] GLAAD called them "cruel" and "inaccurate".[59] Rowling responded with an essay on her website[13] in which she revealed that her views on women's rights were informed by her experience as a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault.[60] While affirming that most trans people were "vulnerable" and "deserved protection", she believed that it would be unsafe to allow "any man who believes or feels he's a woman" into bathrooms or changing rooms.[60] Writing of her own experiences with sexism and misogyny,[61] she wondered if the "allure of escaping womanhood" would have led her to transition if she had been born later, and said that trans activism was "seeking to erode 'woman' as a political and biological class".[62] Rowling's statements have been deemed transphobic by critics[63] and she has been referred to as a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist).[50] She rejects these characterisations.[13][64] Criticism of Rowling's views came from the Harry Potter fansites MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron;[65] and the charities Mermaids,[50] Stonewall,[66] and Human Rights Campaign.[67] After Kerry Kennedy expressed "profound disappointment" in her views, Rowling returned the Ripple of Hope Award given to her by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organisation.[29] As Rowling's views on the legal status of transgender people came under fire,[35] some performers and feminists have supported her.[68] Figures from the arts world criticised "hate speech directed against her".[64] |