John Merrow interviewed Dolly Parton about her program called the Imagination Library. she loved to read and she wanted to inspire the same love of reading in children.
She began sending free books to the children in her county in Tennessee. Some of their families couldn’t afford to buy a book. No matter their family income, every child received a free book with their name on it, once a month for five years.
Dolly became known as “the book lady,” a title she cherished. She wanted to do good in the world, and she did. Her book program expands to children across Tennessee, then across the United States, then to other countries.
By the time of her death, she had given away close to 300 million books. She loved being “the book lady.”
She didn’t do it for fame or praise. She did it because she wanted every child to learn to read and to love reading.
As I have previously written, it’s hard to think of any sort of philanthropy carried out by other people of great wealth.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dolly Parton said she started her Imagination Library project in honor of her father, an intelligent man, who never learned to read or write. She knew that knowing how to read opens the door to learning so much more about the world. She also had the good sense to capture children’s interest through enjoyable fiction.
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Also a philanthropist: Andrew Carnegie! 2,509 libraries built worldwide, 1,689 in the USA.
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It strikes me that the greatest philanthropic act today might be to pay a fair wage to working people. That would be good for all of us.
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