In a seasonal celebration of the wide range of work that the country’s charities do, here are our thirteen favourite spooky charities.
The Scary Little Girls Association – a theatre group who are performing an all-female version of Dracula in Birmingham tonight.
The Friends of Ghost Hill – no, not an episode of Scooby Doo, but a charity supporting a school of the same name in Norfolk
Lumos – JK Rowling’s charity, named after a Harry Potter spell
The Hawk and Owl Trust – or any of the country’s many other owl charities
Goblin Combe Environment Centre – an educational charity in the Somerset countryside
Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust – or any of several hundred other charities interested in their local cemeteries, such as the Oxenhope Old Burial Grounds Trust
The Merlin Magic Wand Children’s Charity – who arrange days out for seriously ill, disabled and disadvantaged children.
The Institute of Psychophysical Research – encourages research into ‘paranormal phenomena’
Little Troll Productions – an educational theatre group
And we shouldn’t forget that Halloween isn’t just about scares and spooks – the Rainford Welfare and Old Folk’s Treat Committee make sure that over 65s in St Helens get a treat, not a trick.
And finally two organisations which for some reason don’t appear on the register of charities:
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – as a private school, it could register for charitable status as long as it could demonstrate that it provided sufficient public benefit. Additionally, Hermione Granger’s ‘Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare’. It was going to be called ‘Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status’, but it wouldn’t fit on a badge, so that became the title of S.P.E.W’s manifesto. The sort of conversation that will be familiar to many who have started a charity. Hermione defined the charity’s aims as ‘to secure house-elves fair wages and working conditions. Our long-term aims include changing the law about nonwand use, and trying to get an elf into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, because they’re shockingly under-represented.’ S.P.E.W. may have to take legal advice on whether that constitutes a legitimate charitable purpose.
(This post was a bit of a joint effort, including contributions from NCVO spooksters Alarming Aidan Warner, Dangerous David Kane and SKarina Russell).
David Kane was formerly NCVO’s Senior Research Officer. He discusses open data and emerging trends in the voluntary and community sector and wider civil society. 
