The Dollywood Foundation was created in 1988 by American Icon Dolly Parton to inspire the children in her hometown to achieve educational success. Her initial efforts focused on decreasing the dropout rate in the local high school. In the early 90’s Dolly promised every 7th-grade and 8th-grade student she would personally give them $500 if they graduated from high school. This effort, called the Buddy Program, reduced the dropout rate for these two classes from 35% to 6%. More importantly, the program catalyzed the community to provide additional resources to sustain this improvement in the dropout rate.

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In 1995, the Foundation implemented Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in Dolly’s hometown, Sevierville, Tennessee. What was founded as a local program grew into an international movement through the unique partnership among the Foundation, the publisher, fulfillment centers and the thousands of local organizations who adopted the program. The Imagination Library continues to be the signature program of the Foundation.

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Today, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library partners with thousands of local organizations serving over 3500 communities to gift books each month to over 2.3 million children across U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.

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There are currently +400 programs in Canada, with a program in every province. Continuing robust expansion is the primary objective for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. While currently reaching 2% of all Canadian children each month with the gift of an age-appropriate book in the mail, the Foundation aims to reach 130,000 0-5 aged children, approximately 10% of Canadian children in the next five years. To meet growth goals, there will be a concentrated focus on the most densely populated Canadian areas, primarily the Great Toronto Area (GTA).​