Ohio · Nonprofit
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (Ohio) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,075,627 to it, the largest being THE WEXNER FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND ($800,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $14M
- Funders on record
- 39
- Grants received
- $5.1M
- Net assets
- $12M
What Dolly Parton's Imagination Library does
Mission
The mission of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is to promote and encourage reading by the children of the State of Ohio, including for such purposes the provision of books to children through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and ancillary activities, programs and benefits.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Program
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (DPIL) focuses its efforts on the promotion of early childhood literacy for the general public. DPIL's educational program of providing books to children across all 88 counties within the State of Ohio helps develop the character and capability of young children prior to entering formal schooling through early exposure to high quality, age appropriate books intended to develop a foundation of basic literacy skills needed for reading and writing.
$14,965,558 spentof which $3,275,000 as grants$3,858,805 earned by the program100% of program spending
The program described on its FY2025 Form 990. Program spending in total: $14,965,558.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $3.6M to $8.1M (+123%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2019 78% · 2020 2% · 2021 67% · 2022 77% · 2023 69% · 2024 60% · 2025 60%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
69% of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Timberly Pierce
Executive Director
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 5 funders to 11 funders, grant income rose $370k → $471k.
10 of 39 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 22% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 39 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 16% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
55% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 54% · 2020 32% · 2021 61% · 2022 40% · 2023 27% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
35% of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 54% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
80% of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library's grant income comes from Ohio funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 3 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library holds deeper cash reserves than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Ohio
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
98% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
97%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Dolly Parton's Imagination Library: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Dolly Parton's Imagination Library?
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (Ohio) receives grants from 39 organizations whose IRS filings report $5,075,627 to it, the largest being THE WEXNER FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND ($800,000). 21 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Dolly Parton's Imagination Library have?
- IRS filings report 39 organizations giving $5,075,627 in grants to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, 21 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library?
- THE WEXNER FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND is the largest funder on record, with $800,000 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Dolly Parton's Imagination Library find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Ohio. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2019–2025), and the filings of 39 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing