A timeline of Dolly Parton's philanthropy

In addition to her own foundation, Parton has contributed funds to a number of charitable organizations outside the Dollywood umbrella, including the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes, Save the Music Foundation and the Boot Campaign, an organization that donates proceeds to military veterans who are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and physical injuries. 

In 1988, Parton established the Dollywood Foundation, named for her theme park in Sevier County, Tennessee. The foundation’s original goal was to help children in the region “achieve educational success,” but it morphed into the Imagination Library in 1995, a program that distributes books to children across the globe, free of charge, from birth until they begin their first year of school. 

Soon after launching the Dollywood Foundation, Parton turned her focus to reducing the high school dropout rate in Sevier County, Tennessee. According to the organization, Parton asked every seventh- and eighth-grade student to “buddy up” with another student, promising them $500 in cash after they both successfully graduated from high school. The program was a major success for students in that year — according to the organization, the high school’s dropout rate declined from 35 percent to just 6 percent in response to Parton’s gift. 

One year after the debut of the Dollywood Foundation, Parton offered a $500 scholarship to every student in Sevier County, Tennessee, who wished to attend the nearby Hiwassee College, in an effort to boost graduation rates in the region and improve college attendance. 

In addition to the rides, shows and other attractions at Dollywood, one of its most iconic exhibits is the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary. Managed by the American Eagle Foundation, the 30,000-square-foot aviary houses what the organization describes as the country’s largest collection of “non-releasable” bald eagles. The eagles are on view at Dollywood several months out of the year and participate in the Wings of America Birds of Prey show for visitors to enjoy. 

In 1995, Parton made the Imagination Library, her non-profit organization that sends one book per month to each enrolled child from birth until their first year of school, the major focus of the Dollywood Foundation. The Imagination Library was founded in tribute to Parton’s father, who was unable to read. 

Every year, five high school seniors in Sevier County, Tennessee, are awarded the Dolly Parton Scholarship, which provides $15,000 for each recipient to pursue a college education. The scholarship is, according to the Dollywood Foundation, given to students who “have a dream they wish to pursue and who can successfully communicate their plan and commitment to realize their dreams.” 

In conjunction with the National Network of State Teachers of the Year, the Dollywood Foundation presents the Chasing Rainbows Award to a “teacher who has overcome obstacles in his/her life and is making a difference in the lives of children.” As a prize, the winner gets to spend a week at Dollywood in Tennessee as Parton’s honored guest. 

Originally intended to just serve the children of Sevier County, Tennessee, the Imagination Library has since broadened its reach outside of the United States. In 2006, the Library began shipping books to children in Canada and, in the following year, the United Kingdom. The program expanded to Australia in 2013. 

At a benefit concert in May 2007, Parton raised money for the LeConte Medical Center, a new hospital and cancer center in Sevier County, Tennessee. In addition to the $500,000 raised at the concert, both Dollywood and Parton’s Dixie Stampede dinner theater each pledged $250,000 to the project, bringing the total amount of funds raised to $1 million. The hospital opened in 2010 and named its women’s health ward after Parton. 

Through her Dollywood Foundation, Parton pledged that she would donate $1,000 per month for six months to families who lost their homes in the aftermath of wildfires that ripped through the Great Smoky Mountains in 2016. In addition to donating her own money to the My People Fund, Parton also hosted two star-studded telethons to raise funds for fire victims, ultimately raising and donating millions of dollars. 

Along with the much-needed cash grants provided to families impacted by the Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, the Dollywood Foundation also provided college scholarships to graduating high school seniors in the region who had lost their homes in the fires. 

In 2016, Parton made headlines by awarding a $30,000 Special Merit Scholarship to a 2-year-old girl named Evey Johns in recognition of the Imagination Library’s milestone of shipping out one million books per month. Johns, who had enrolled in the Imagination Library, was announced as the recipient of the scholarship at a stop on Parton’s Pure & Simple Tour. 

As the country debated over the “bathroom ban” enacted in North Carolina, Parton — who has been a vocal advocate for LGBT rights — came out in opposition to the ban. “I think everybody should be treated with respect,” Parton told CNN in 2016. “I don’t judge people, and I try not to get too caught up in the controversy of things. I hope that everybody gets a chance to be who and what they are.”

To celebrate the release of her children’s album, "I Believe In You," Parton made a $1 million donation to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Parton’s gift was made in honor of her beloved niece, who was treated for leukemia at the hospital.

Twenty-three years after it was founded, the Imagination Library mailed its 100 millionth book to a child in March 2018. At present, the program ships more than a million books each month to 1.3 million participants across the globe. 

Shortly after donating $1 million to the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Parton helped open the Hannah Dennison Butterfly Garden at the hospital, dedicated to her niece. Dennison was treated for leukemia at the hospital beginning in 1990 and ultimately made a full recovery. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the United States, Dolly Parton donated $1 million to help fund vaccine research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 

Launched in 2022, the Care More initiative entitles employees of Dolly Parton's Dollywood Parks and Resorts to a day off that they can use to volunteer at a nonprofit of their choice. “I think it’s important for everyone to do their share to help their fellow man,” she said in a 2022 speech. “This world is so crazy. I don’t think we even know what we’re doing to each other and to this world.”

Billionaire Jeff Bezos donated $100 million to Parton's Dollywood Foundation in November 2022. Parton was the recipient of Bezos's third-annual Courage and Civility Award, and can use the funds to donate to charities of her choice or continue her own charitable work.