Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
841826095
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Columbus, OH, USA
Phone
6145659715
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Libraries

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,887,661
Expenses
$15,266,452
Assets
$12,004,283
Liabilities
$345

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

11 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Barbara Mills (President)
  • Timberly Pierce (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Catherine Sulecki (State Director): $105,000 total reported compensation
  • Timberly Pierce (Executive Director): $89,024 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

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.

What it reported doing in 2025

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.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 60% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 78% for direct work, and 22% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 98
  • Transparency & Controls: 88
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 98%; rating input score 98
  • Fundraising efficiency: $95.27 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 91.6%; rating input score 92; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.9%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.79; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 96; 96th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.3%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 23.6% per year; rating input score 100; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 16.2% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $15M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $105K · 11 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 7 filing years from 2019 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.