When Dolly Parton decides to give back, she wants to make sure she’s giving to a cause that’s meaningful to her. “I always want to do things that I can be proud to talk about, things that I believe in,” Parton told People. “I cannot be a hypocrite and just say I’m going to donate this money for a tax write-off. I’d really like for it to mean something to me — something I can take pride in.” 

Take the Imagination Library, for instance. Parton has often said in interviews that the organization — which donates a free book once a month to children from the time they are born until age five — was inspired by her father. “The Imagination Library came from a very serious place in my heart. My dad and a lot of my relatives that grew up hard too, big families, they couldn’t actually get a chance to go to school, because they had to work,” the singer-songwriter told CNBC in 2016. 

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Despite being smart and talented, Parton’s dad never learned to read and write, which is why the “9 to 5” singer decided to focus on childhood literacy. “When I decided what I was going to do for a great charity, then I thought well I’m gonna do this: To get books in the hands of children, because if you can learn to read, if you can read, you can self-educate yourself,” she said.