Dollar General Literacy Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Dollar General Literacy Foundation supports reading education programs for children and adults in the 43 states where Dollar General stores are located. The foundation also supports high school equivalency programs and school library relief.
IP TAKE: This is an accessible funder for schools, community organizations and libraries involved in literacy education. The foundation accepts applications at any time via its website.
Given its role in undercutting groceries in communities across the U.S., it’s interesting that this funder has no significant grantmaking for public health or economic development, two areas of focus which its corporate sister has been linked to worsening. Both of these areas have an effect on literacy in terms of health and development. Perhaps these areas of giving will evolve in the future.
This is not an open-minded funder and its funding can be bureaucratic.
PROFILE: The Dollar General Corporation founded its Literacy Foundation in 1993 in honor of its cofounder, J. L. Turner, who dropped out of school in the third grade and never attained functional literacy. Based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation supports programs that help “individuals learn to read, prepare for the high school equivalence, or learn English.” It also invests in the development of teaching methodologies that improve literacy outcomes and increase high school completion rates. It runs grant programs for adult, youth and family literacy, summer reading and school library relief.
Grants for K-12 Education
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation supports K-12 education through its youth, family, summer reading and school library relief programs. Youth literacy grants support public and private schools, libraries and nonprofits that help students who are reading below grade level through implementation or expansion of reading programs, and family literacy grants are aimed mainly at nonprofits that provide literacy support to children or PACT (parent and child together) programs. The foundation’s summer reading program targets libraries and nonprofits that run programs for struggling or disabled K-12 readers in the summer months. Separately, its library relief program, Beyond Words, provides grants to school libraries that are repairing and replenishing books, technology and supplies after natural disasters. This initiative has supported more than one hundred school libraries in Louisiana, Texas and other areas that have experienced devastating hurricanes and flooding. One past grantee is La Casa de Amistad, an organization in South Bend, Indiana, that provides afterschool and summer programming to the Latin/Hispanic communities of the area. Public school grantees include districts in Zanesville, Ohio; Santa Monica, California and Fluvanna County, Virginia. Library grantees include literacy programs at public libraries in Nashville, Tennessee and the cities of Ardmore, South Whitley and Columbus in Indiana.
Grants for Work and Opportunity
The foundation supports adult literacy via its adult literacy program and its signature high school equivalency program, Rise Up and Shine. The adult literacy program supports adult education, GED preparation and English language learning programs for adults. Grantees include community colleges, community centers, literacy initiatives and libraries. In Georgetown, Kentucky, the foundation supports the Immigrant Initiative, which provides services including education to immigrants and their families. Another grantee, Strong City Baltimore, is a grassroots organization that runs an adult learning center focused on literacy and vocational skills. Community college grantees include Coastal Alabama Community College, West Hills Community College in Coalinga, California and John Wood Community College in Quincy, Illinois. Dollar General’s Rise Up and Shine program helps adults complete high school equivalency with the goal of attending college and developing self-confidence and motivation. For this program, the foundation partners with the Kellogg’s Corporation and community literacy initiatives around the country.
Important Grant Details:
With grantmaking topping $9 million a year, Dollar General funds hundreds of grantees each year, favoring individual schools and small community-level nonprofit organizations in the 43 states where Dollar General stores are located. Its maximum grant amounts are $4,000 for youth literacy, $15,000 for family literacy, $3,000 for summer reading and $50,000 for library relief. For information about past grantees, see individual program pages on the funder’s website.
The foundation runs an open application process and usually posts application materials on its website in January. Applications and due dates are specific to each initiative.
PEOPLE:
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