Can't see the original article, so maybe it covers this, but from the excerpts, sounds like it didn't. The Sevier Co. graduation scholarship thing was explicitly a "bring a friend" ... If you both...
Can't see the original article, so maybe it covers this, but from the excerpts, sounds like it didn't.
The Sevier Co. graduation scholarship thing was explicitly a "bring a friend" ... If you both graduated, you both got the scholarship; if either one of you did not graduate, neither of you got it.
Personally, I believe that was the "hook" that made it so successful, rather than the "cold hard cash" part.
Addendum ... Honestly, it seems like she had a real knack for coming up with winning strategies. The Imagination Library thing wasn't just "books for kids", it was a book a month sent from Dolly, right to each kid, personally, because Dolly thought that kid was awesome and deserved books ... I mean, you know, that's how it's presented. And as much as the books themselves, that Mr. Rogers-y "you are awesome just because you're you" messaging has to be a big part of the success.
Ms. Parton’s support for the fire victims was just one node in a constellation of charitable activities that distinguished her as one of pop culture’s most prolific philanthropists. With cash gifts, benefit concerts and telethons, Ms. Parton supported causes that included early childhood literacy, wildlife conservation and the development of the Covid-19 vaccine.
She became so effective at distributing her own money that the ultrawealthy asked her to distribute theirs. In 2022, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his future wife, Lauren Sanchez, gave Ms. Parton $100 million to distribute to causes of her choosing. And this summer, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce gave Ms. Parton’s Imagination Library $2 million to fund the distribution of children’s books.
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The foundation was initially focused on reducing school dropout rates in Sevier County, in part by offering $500 gifts to graduates. Cold, hard cash proved a powerful incentive; high school dropout rates plummeted to just 6 percent in the county, from 35 percent. The Dollywood Foundation, which reported $141 million in assets last year, also offers local high school graduates $15,000 scholarships.
“She gave cash gifts to people in need long before it was popular,” Ms. Palmer said. “She trusted the people that she wanted to help.”
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In the months after the Covid-19 virus emerged, Ms. Parton learned that Vanderbilt University in Nashville was helping with the early trials of the vaccine made by Moderna, and gave $1 million to support the effort.
“It was a shot in the arm,” said Mark Denison, emeritus professor of pediatrics at the Vanderbilt School of Medicine. “We were starting this work but we didn’t have specific funding for it, and she recognized that this was a critical human problem that was going to impact the country and the world. It allowed us to quickly scale up and get into the lab.”
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The next year, she made a $1 million gift to Vanderbilt to support work on infectious diseases in children, and the year after that, she created an endowment to support additional research.
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Ms. Palmer said the question now was what will become of Ms. Parton’s remaining fortune, which is estimated to be about $500 million, according to Forbes.
“She did so much while she’s alive, but I’m super curious what her will says,” Ms. Palmer said. “Because she had so much wealth, and she did not have children. So we may yet see more of her.”
Can't see the original article, so maybe it covers this, but from the excerpts, sounds like it didn't.
The Sevier Co. graduation scholarship thing was explicitly a "bring a friend" ... If you both graduated, you both got the scholarship; if either one of you did not graduate, neither of you got it.
Personally, I believe that was the "hook" that made it so successful, rather than the "cold hard cash" part.
Addendum ... Honestly, it seems like she had a real knack for coming up with winning strategies. The Imagination Library thing wasn't just "books for kids", it was a book a month sent from Dolly, right to each kid, personally, because Dolly thought that kid was awesome and deserved books ... I mean, you know, that's how it's presented. And as much as the books themselves, that Mr. Rogers-y "you are awesome just because you're you" messaging has to be a big part of the success.
This is an archive.ph link.
From the article:
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