• The Harry Potter book series inspired the creation of a nonprofit humanitarian group in 2005 called Harry Potter Alliance.
• The 100,000-member group communicates online and through local chapters in communities throughout the world.
• In two weeks, the Alliance raised more than $123,000 for Haiti earthquake victims.
• The group plans to reach out to other fans of pop culture books, shows and movies to unite them toward social change.

Call it wizardry if you like. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore lighted down in Haiti earlier this year bringing aid to the earthquake-ravaged country. Those were the names of four cargo planes full of medical supplies, paid for and sent by an unlikely alliance: fans of the Harry Potter book series by J.K. Rowling.

The Harry Potter Alliance is a 100,000-strong fan base united through the virtual realm of social media as well as in real-life chapters in communities throughout the world. With the motto “The weapon we have is love” – a theme in the Potter books – the fans have mobilized for a number of charitable causes under the name Dumbledore’s Army.

Executive director Andrew Slack formed the Alliance in 2005 with the specific goal of bringing book fans together to create positive change. “I thought we needed an organization to act as a Dumbledore’s Army for our world, full of Harry Potter fans wishing to embody the message of the books to create social change,” he wrote on the Alliance’s website.

True to Slack’s intentions, these Potter buffs did a lot more this year than discuss wands, patronuses and horcruxes.

In a mere two weeks, the Alliance raised more than $123,000 for Haiti, the money going to Partners in Health, an organization that provides health care for impoverished communities throughout the world. A fifth cargo plane to Haiti was named DFTBA, funded with help from another group, Nerdfighteria.

The Alliance also donated 55,000 books across the world. The nonprofit group won first place in the Chase Community Giving Challenge for $250,000, which they plan to use on campaigns for literacy and human rights. They accumulated more than 10,000 signatures to move toward making fair trade all chocolate that is sold under the Harry Potter name.

The foundation has plans to expand to create an umbrella group that unites Harry Potter fans with fans of more than 20 blockbuster books, TV shows and movies in an effort to harness the energy of popular culture toward social change.

What does Rowling herself think of her fans’ work? Her reaction in Time magazine in a 2007 interview: “When asked about the [Harry Potter Alliance], Rowling practically levitates off the couch, spilling her coffee along the way. ‘It’s incredible, it’s humbling, and it’s uplifting to see people going out there and doing that in the name of your character. … What did my books preach against throughout? Bigotry, violence, struggles for power, no matter what.’ ”

The Alliance’s latest effort spans the length of time between the two Deathly Hallows movies, from now until July 2011, when the final movie adaptation of the series opens. The Deathly Hallows Campaign will identify seven “horcruxes,” or real-world injustices, that fans will fight against, about one a month to be revealed until all seven are being battled simultaneously by the group.

Even Slack has been amazed at what the Alliance has achieved. On the Alliance website he said, “We are grateful to [the members for] joining us, shaping us, challenging us, and engaging with us in building a better world more suitable to creative expression, justice, and love.”

Start an HPA chapter in your community. Keep up with the Harry Potter Alliance on Facebook.