Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Legal name: The Dollywood Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
621348105
IRS 990 coverage
2017–2025
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Sevierville, TN, USA
Phone
865-428-9606
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$98,131,804
Expenses
$94,811,002
Assets
$141,532,852
Liabilities
$99,294,471

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JEFF CONYERS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JEFF CONYERS (PRESIDENT): $863,456 total reported compensation
  • SAMUEL WOLFE (DIR. OF OPER): $210,116 total reported compensation
  • THERESA LONG (DIR. OF MARK): $178,627 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To inspire a love of reading by gifting books each month to children from birth to age five, free of charge, through funding shared by Dolly and local community partners.

What it reported doing in 2025

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.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 94% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 91
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 71
  • Sustainability: 45
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.5%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 98.9%; rating input score 99
  • Fundraising efficiency: $23.64 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 50%; rating input score 50; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 3.4%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.49; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.7; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.6%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 14.1% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 15.8% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 28.1% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 5 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 94.5% of revenue deployed · 98.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 6 of 12 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $93.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $863K · 16 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2017 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 50/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 49/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 22/100.