Following the death of country music icon Dolly Parton, this piece looks back at the wide range of philanthropic causes she supported throughout her life, spanning literacy, medical research, education and disaster relief in her home region of Tennessee. Her charitable work, much of it channelled through her own foundations, reflected a lifelong commitment to the community she grew up in as well as broader causes such as vaccine research.

– Her Imagination Library, founded in 1995 in honour of her father's illiteracy, has distributed over 332 million free books to children.
– She donated a total of $2 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center between 2017 and 2022, including funding for Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine research and paediatric infectious disease work.
– The Dollywood Foundation, established in 1988, ran a graduation incentive scheme that cut Sevier County high school dropout rates from over 30% to about 6%, and later introduced an annual $15,000 scholarship.
– She gave substantial sums to disaster relief efforts, including over $9 million raised for 2016 wildfire victims, $700,000 for 2021 flood victims, and $2 million (with Dollywood) after Hurricane Helene in 2024.
– Her family has asked that, instead of flowers, donations be made to the Imagination Library.