History

The Dollywood Foundation was created in 1988 by Dolly Parton to inspire the children in her home county to achieve educational success. Initial efforts focused on decreasing the dropout rate in the county’s high school.

In the early 1990’s, Dolly promised every 7th grade and 8th grade student $500 if they successfully graduated from high school. This effort, called the Buddy Program, reduced the dropout rate for these two classes from 35% to 6%. 

In 1995, Dolly created her Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tennessee. This monthly book gifting program for children under the age of five was originally designed to inspire a love of reading and learning for all preschool children in the county. What was founded as a local program became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mailed one million books. It proved to be the first of many millions of books sent to children around the world.

In the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that swept through Sevier County, Tennessee, in November 2016, Dolly Parton and The Dollywood Foundation launched the My People Fund to help families who had lost their homes and possessions. Created just 48 hours after the fires, the fund provided immediate financial assistance to residents whose primary residences were destroyed or left uninhabitable.

The My People Fund provided $1,000 per month for six months to every qualifying family, regardless of whether they were homeowners or renters. Thanks to generous donations from around the world, the final distribution was increased to $5,000 per family, bringing total assistance to $10,000 for nearly 900 affected families.

In addition to supporting families, Dolly and The Dollywood Foundation helped strengthen the region's recovery efforts by providing funding to local volunteer fire departments and first responders who played a critical role in protecting communities during the disaster.

Together, these efforts demonstrated Dolly's commitment to her hometown and provided both immediate relief and long-term support to those impacted by one of the most devastating natural disasters in Sevier County's history.