Harry Potter fans have formed a powerful charity network, says Newsweek’s Web site.

The Harry Potter Alliance was founded by Andrew Slack, a 29-year-old Potter fan, has raised $15,000 for aid in Darfur and Burma through blogs and YouTube videos, and has donated 14,000 books to children in need.

Robert Thompson, a pop-culture historian at Syracuse University, said the alliance, which now numbers 100,000 members, is the first philanthropic organization of fans he has encountered.

“If we really want to be Harry Potter, we can’t all go out and find a basilisk to slay,” Mr. Thompson said of charity’s appeal for fans of the wizard hero of J.K. Rowling’s mega-selling book series. “But if you’re thinking of ways you can be a Harry Potter-esque hero in the real world, one of the things that suggests itself is philanthropy.”