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Tennessee · Nonprofit

THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION

THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION (Tennessee) receives grants from 291 organizations whose IRS filings report $72,124,927 to it, the largest being NORTH CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC ($46,015,923). 152 of them have funded it in more than one year.

Revenue FY2024
$90M
Funders on record
291
Grants received
$72M
Net assets
$38M
152/291 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 19%
01What it does

What The Dollywood Foundation does

Mission

To share the life and legacy of dolly parton as an inspiration to all children to dream more, learn more,care more and be more.

As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.

Programs

  1. Dolly parton's imagination library mails free, high-quality books to children from birth until they begin school, no matter their family's income. In 2025, imagination library mailed over 38 million books to children in all 50 states.

    $93,695,811 spentof which $120,000 as grants$91,781,502 earned by the program
    100% of program spending
  2. Scholarships - to provide college scholarships to local high school seniors. During the year ended december 31, 2025, scholarships were provided to 22 individuals.

    $78,125 spentof which $78,125 as grants
    0% of program spending

The 2 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $93,773,936.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($31M) Expenses 100 ($36M) Net assets 100 ($11M)2018 Revenue 105 ($33M) Expenses 89 ($33M) Net assets 91 ($10M)2019 Revenue 116 ($36M) Expenses 98 ($36M) Net assets 104 ($12M)2020 Revenue 138 ($43M) Expenses 111 ($41M) Net assets 129 ($14M)2021 Revenue 152 ($47M) Expenses 125 ($46M) Net assets 143 ($16M)2022 Revenue 177 ($55M) Expenses 144 ($52M) Net assets 148 ($17M)2023 Revenue 253 ($78M) Expenses 175 ($64M) Net assets 285 ($32M)2024 Revenue 290 ($90M) Expenses 230 ($84M) Net assets 342 ($38M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Revenue (290)Expenses (230)Net assets (342)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2022 to 2023, from $33M to $52M (+56%).

$15M
$16M
$17M
$23M
$29M
$33M
$52M
$68M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Total assetsTotal liabilities

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.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.

−$5.5M
’17
−$76k
’18
$323k
’19
$2.1M
’20
$1.4M
’21
$2.7M
’22
$15M
’23
$5.8M
’24
5.7
months of
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.

Board chair

Dolly Parton

Chair

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24
Listed1011111114161715
Joined·+2+2+0+4+3+3+0
No longer listed·1201122
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 57 funders to 108 funders, grant income rose $2.0M → $10M.

70 of 291 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 11% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

Left out of every figure on this page: $526k from one payer (the payer's own filing calls it a related party, largest The Briggs Family Foundation Inc). These are real filings, and they are not money THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION raised.

From the IRS filings of THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 291 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

THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 64% of grant income and the top three 68%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

93% 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 THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION.

64%
largest funder
68%
top three
~2
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 19% · 2018 29% · 2019 67% · 2020 73% · 2021 71% · 2022 75% · 2023 71% — growing more concentrated.

“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

40% of THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 52% give in more than one year at all.

first grant+1y+2y+3y+4y+5y+6y

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

THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION draws 98% of its grant income from funders outside Tennessee, across 46 states in all.

AK
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
’23
Tennessee out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $7.9M arriving through sponsors registered in 28 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.

04Its place in the field

Government funding THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION receives

Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.3M on record — $1k federal, $6.3M state.

Federal$1k
grants $0contracts $1k
Top agencies
  • Department of the Interior$1k
State$6.3M
10
11
12
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
By state
  • DE$4.0M
  • OR$1.9M
  • MD$397k
  • OK$4k

Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.

Organizations like THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION

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 Tennessee

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

99% of spending goes to programs.

Program 99%Management 1%Fundraising 0%

Governance

11
board members
55%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy✓Whistleblower policy✓Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990✓Audited financials

Public support

38%

Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

TN

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION: 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.

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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 THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION?
THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION (Tennessee) receives grants from 291 organizations whose IRS filings report $72,124,927 to it, the largest being NORTH CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC ($46,015,923). 152 of them have funded it in more than one year.
How many funders does THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION have?
IRS filings report 291 organizations giving $72,124,927 in grants to THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION, 152 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION?
NORTH CAROLINA PARTNERSHIP FOR CHILDREN INC is the largest funder on record, with $46,015,923 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like THE DOLLYWOOD FOUNDATION find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Tennessee. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2017–2024), and the filings of 291 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