Dollar General Literacy Foundation Grants 2026: Next Dates

Updated Nov 6, 20264 official sources

Quick Answer: None of the 4 regular Dollar General Literacy Foundation grants is open as of November 6, 2026.

Full answer and how we checked it

The foundation's grant programs page says the Adult Literacy, Family Literacy and Summer Reading cycles open again in January 2027 and Youth Literacy in spring 2027. Grants top out at $10,000 (Adult and Family), $5,000 (Youth) and $3,000 (Summer Reading), for nonprofits recognized by the IRS, public libraries, schools and colleges within 15 miles of a Dollar General store. The only open door today is Beyond Words, a disaster fund for damaged K-12 public school libraries.

Who this is for: If you're a literacy council, adult education program, public library, school or youth nonprofit in a Dollar General town, this guide explains what Dollar General Literacy Foundation grants pay for, when the next windows open, how the 15-mile rule works and how much money actually reaches groups like yours. Grantsights isn't affiliated with Dollar General or its foundation.

Data note: The Dollar General Literacy Foundation (EIN 62-1546736, Goodlettsville, Tennessee) files Form 990 as a public charity, not Form 990-PF, so it isn't in the Grantsights 990-PF snapshot. Giving figures here come from its Form 990 for February 1, 2025 to January 31, 2026 (submitted June 8, 2026, read through ProPublica's render of the IRS e-file), from its four 2026 recipient lists on dgliteracy.org, and from Dollar General's September 10, 2026 youth grant release. Schedule I itemizes only grants over $5,000. No employee-gift exclusion was needed: Schedule I Part III (grants to individuals) is blank, and none of the 564 itemized grants is an employee matching or employee-directed gift. Employee hardship aid runs through a separate foundation, covered below.

Last updated: 2026-11-06.

In this guide

Dollar General Literacy Foundation grants: what's open on November 6, 2026
The 2026 calendar and what it suggests for 2027
Who can apply: the 15-mile rule and the ID you'll need
What each Dollar General grant pays for
Who actually gets funded: Grantsights analysis of the 990 and 2026 lists
How to apply for a Dollar General Literacy Foundation grant
What the Dollar General Literacy Foundation's pages don't tell you
Dollar General grants that aren't for organizations
If you missed the 2026 window: other literacy money
How Grantsights checked this guide
Related Guides
Sources

Dollar General Literacy Foundation grants: what's open on November 6, 2026

Grantsights checked 5 routes on the foundation's grant programs page (opens in a new tab) and FAQ (opens in a new tab) on November 6, 2026. Four are closed until 2027. One shows an application link with no deadline.

Route	What it pays for	Who can apply	Published maximum	Status on November 6, 2026	Where to check
Adult Literacy grants	Adult basic education, GED or high school equivalency prep, English language learning	Nonprofits, libraries, schools and colleges giving direct services to adults	Up to $10,000	Closed. Next cycle "will be open in January 2027"	Grant programs (opens in a new tab)
Family Literacy grants	Programs that combine adult education, children's education and Parent and Child Together Time (PACT)	Nonprofits that run all three parts	Up to $10,000	Closed. Next cycle opens January 2027	Grant programs (opens in a new tab)
Summer Reading grants	New or expanded summer reading programs for Pre-K to 12th grade new readers, below-grade readers and students with learning disabilities	Local nonprofits, schools and libraries	$3,000	Closed. Next cycle opens January 2027	Grant programs (opens in a new tab)
Youth Literacy grants	New or expanded literacy programs, technology, books and software for K-12 students below grade level	Schools, public libraries and nonprofits	$5,000	Closed. Next cycle "will be open in Spring 2027"	Grant programs (opens in a new tab)
Beyond Words	Replacing books, media and library equipment after a disaster	K-12 public schools with a pre-existing library, within 36 months of a natural disaster, fire or federally recognized act of terrorism	Not published	Page links to the application portal; no deadline listed	Grant programs (opens in a new tab)

Recently closed: the 2026 Youth Literacy cycle (March 5 to April 2, 2026; winners announced September 10, 2026) and the 2026 Adult, Family and Summer Reading cycle (January 8 to February 5, 2026; winners announced May 8, 2026).

Our honest read: for most groups the next real chance is January 2027, and the work you can do now is the registration and ID homework described below, so you aren't stuck in a 48-hour verification queue during a 4-week window.

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The 2026 calendar and what it suggests for 2027

The 2026 windows lasted 4 weeks each. According to the foundation's FAQ, these were the 2026 dates:

2026 date	What happened
January 8	Adult, Family and Summer Reading applications opened
February 5	Adult, Family and Summer Reading deadline
March 5	Youth Literacy applications opened
April 2	Youth Literacy deadline
May 8	Adult, Family and Summer Reading awards announced
September 10	Youth Literacy awards announced

The grant programs page gives only "January 2027" and "Spring 2027" for the next cycles. Grantsights won't guess exact 2027 dates. The 2026 pattern (an early-January opening and an early-March youth opening) is a reasonable planning assumption, not a promise, and you should treat the dates on dgliteracy.org as the only ones that count.

Two timing details matter. First, Summer Reading money is awarded in May for programs that run that summer, so you apply in January for a June program. Second, Youth Literacy awards arrive in September, near the start of the school year, which Dollar General's September 10, 2026 release describes as the normal timing for that program.

Who can apply: the 15-mile rule and the ID you'll need

Per the foundation's FAQ, an eligible applicant must meet 4 conditions at once:

It's a nonprofit as determined by the IRS, a public library, a school or a college.
It provides direct literacy services.
It's in a state where Dollar General operates.
Its organization address is within 15 miles of a Dollar General store.

The wording varies slightly by page. The FAQ and the Schedule I narrative in the foundation's own Form 990 say "within 15 miles of a Dollar General store." The About page says nonprofits, schools and libraries "within a 15-mile radius of Dollar General stores," and both the Beyond Words rules and Dollar General's September 2026 release add distribution centers. The safe test is your organization's own address, not the location of the families you serve.

Dollar General's footprint is wide, so the distance rule excludes fewer groups than you might expect. The four 2026 recipient lists name organizations in 48 states. They don't include Alaska or Hawaii, so groups there should assume they don't qualify unless the foundation says otherwise.

The pre-screening step asks for an ID that proves what kind of organization you are:

Applicant type	ID the FAQ asks for	Where to look it up
Nonprofit	9-digit federal tax ID (EIN)	Your IRS determination letter
School	NCES school ID and district ID	NCES Search for Public Schools (opens in a new tab)
Public library (not a "friends" 501(c)(3))	IMLS library ID, using the FSCS ID	IMLS Library Search & Compare (opens in a new tab)
College or university	IPEDS institution number	The IPEDS lookup the FAQ links

A common mistake is a library foundation or "friends of the library" group applying with the library's FSCS ID, or a library applying with the friends group's EIN. Pick the entity that will run the program and receive the money, and use that entity's ID. The FAQ says verification can take up to 48 hours.

What each Dollar General grant pays for

The 5 programs fund different line items, and the FAQ lists them exactly. Budget only for what your grant type allows.

Program	Maximum	Allowed costs (from the FAQ)	Repeat rule
Adult Literacy	$10,000	Salaries, instructional materials, software, supplies, travel ($500 max), training, printing and publications, computers and technology, professional development	No limit on consecutive years "at this time"
Family Literacy	$10,000	Same as Adult	No limit on consecutive years "at this time"
Summer Reading	$3,000	Books, computers and technology, incentives ($500 max), instructional materials, salaries or staff support, software	Two Year Rule: two years in a row, then sit out the third
Youth Literacy	$5,000	Books, instructional materials, computers and technology, software, professional development	Two Year Rule
Beyond Words	Not published	Books, instructional materials, computers and technology, software, supplies	Not stated

Three practical points come out of that table. Youth Literacy can't pay salaries, so a tutoring program that mainly needs staff time is a weaker fit there than in Adult or Summer Reading. Travel is capped at $500 in Adult and Family, and incentives at $500 in Summer Reading. And the FAQ says an organization can apply to more than one program if it has qualifying programs, for example an adult class and a separate summer program for children.

Who actually gets funded: Grantsights analysis of the 990 and 2026 lists

According to the Form 990 data for the year ending January 31, 2026, the foundation paid $18,652,731 in grants (Part IX, line 1), up from $18,121,025 the year before. That return reports $31,561,855 in revenue, of which $27,649,596 was contributions, $19,142,185 in total expenses, 0 employees and 144 volunteers.

Grantsights analysis of the Schedule I attached to that return counts 564 grants over $5,000, totaling $14,481,656, with a median of $10,000, to recipients in 44 states and the District of Columbia. The remaining $4,171,075 of grants paid most likely sits in grants of $5,000 or less, which Schedule I doesn't itemize; that's where most Summer Reading and Youth Literacy awards would fall, given their $3,000 and $5,000 caps.

Itemized grant size (Schedule I, year ending January 31, 2026)	Grants	Dollars
$5,001 to $9,999	169	Part of the $4.17M below
Exactly $10,000	287	$2,870,000
$10,001 to $24,999	68	Part of the $5.26M under $25,000
$25,000 to $99,999	22	$905,000
$100,000 or more	18	$8,313,924
All itemized grants	564	$14,481,656

All 456 itemized grants of $10,000 or less added up to $4,169,032, and the 524 grants under $25,000 added up to $5,262,732. The 18 grants of $100,000 or more carried 57.4% of itemized dollars. Those grants can't have come through the open programs, whose top award is $10,000; they went to national partners and Nashville-area organizations. For example, Save the Children Federation received $1,345,500, ProLiteracy Worldwide received $1,301,428, the Ad Council received $942,996 and Reading Is Fundamental received $870,000, all in the year ending January 31, 2026.

The local grants look very different. One nonprofit in Arkansas, Ozark Foothills Literacy Project in Batesville, received $10,000; Lincoln Literacy in Nebraska received $7,000; Malvern Public Library in Iowa received $8,000; Destin Library in Florida received $6,500; and Ardmore Public Library in Oklahoma received $19,500 for a citizenship-related program. Tennessee, home to Dollar General's headquarters, led the itemized list with 81 grants worth $2,507,480 (17.3% of itemized dollars), followed by Texas with 51 grants.

The 2026 cycle is visible in the foundation's own recipient lists, which name organizations but not amounts:

2026 recipient list (dgliteracy.org)	Listings	States
Adult Literacy	590	44
Family Literacy	137	36
Summer Reading	686	47
Youth Literacy	889	48
All four lists	2,302	48

Some organizations appear on more than one list; by name, the four lists cover about 2,150 distinct organizations. Tennessee had the most listings (220), then Texas (184). According to Dollar General's September 10, 2026 release, the 2026 Youth Literacy round totaled more than $4.1 million for more than 850 schools, libraries and nonprofits, an average just under the $5,000 cap. The same release puts the foundation's giving since 1993 at nearly $297 million.

How to apply for a Dollar General Literacy Foundation grant

The application only exists during an open window. The FAQ says the foundation doesn't share blank applications or questions outside the grant windows, so the 7 steps below start now and finish in January or March.

Step 1: Confirm your distance and state now

Map your organization's address to the nearest Dollar General store. If you're right at the 15-mile line, measure carefully, and remember the FAQ ties the test to your organization's address.

Step 2: Choose the program that matches the work

Adult and Family are for programs that serve adults. Summer Reading needs a summer program aimed at new, below-grade or learning-disabled readers. Youth needs K-12 students below grade level or having trouble reading. If you run two qualifying programs, plan two applications.

Step 3: Gather your ID number

Use the table above. Schools need both NCES IDs, public libraries need the FSCS ID, colleges need IPEDS, nonprofits need the EIN.

Step 4: Register on the first day the window opens

During an open window, the dgliteracy.org link leads to the grant platform at grantprograms.dgliteracy.org, where you create an account, choose the grant type and complete the pre-screening. Verification can take up to 48 hours, and the window was only 4 weeks long in 2026.

Step 5: Write the full application around student results

The foundation's FAQ says all of its grants "focus on student success." Describe who you serve, how far below grade level or how far from a credential they are, what the money buys from the allowed list, and how you'll count results.

Step 6: Save everything while you still can

The FAQ warns that once the application period closes, you can't reach your application or account through the website, and that winners need the login page to file an acknowledgement form and a year-end report. Download your PDFs and bookmark grantprograms.dgliteracy.org.

Step 7: Watch the announcement date

Every applicant gets an email whether selected or not, and winners get follow-up information within 10 days of the announcement date.

What the Dollar General Literacy Foundation's pages don't tell you

Grantsights compared the program pages against the Form 990, the 2026 lists and the company's own pages. Five points don't appear on the grant pages themselves.

Most of the money isn't in the open programs. Grants of $100,000 or more to 18 organizations accounted for $8.3 million of $18.7 million paid, about 44.6% of all grants in the year ending January 31, 2026. Those partners, such as ProLiteracy, Reading Is Fundamental and the National Center for Families Learning, don't come through the January application. If you're comparing this funder with others, count only the money that open applicants compete for.

The published maximum isn't the typical award for Summer and Youth. Dollar General's own September 2026 figures (more than $4.1 million across more than 850 organizations) put the average Youth Literacy grant just under $5,000. For Adult and Family, $10,000 was the single most common itemized amount. Applicants underestimate how flat these grants are: there's no larger tier to aim for.

Repeat grantees are common in Adult and Family. By Grantsights' name matching, 186 of the 456 itemized grants of $10,000 or less in the year ending January 31, 2026 went to organizations that also appear on the 2026 Adult or Family list, roughly 4 in 10. Those two programs have no consecutive-year limit "at this time," so a first-time applicant competes with returning programs that already know the form.

The Two Year Rule quietly rotates Summer and Youth money. After two straight years, a Summer Reading or Youth Literacy winner must sit out a year. That's a red flag for budgeting: don't build a recurring position on Youth money, and plan the off year now.

Some company pages are out of date. Dollar General's newsroom community page still said the foundation had awarded "more than $250 million," while the foundation's homepage says $296 million and the September 2026 release says nearly $297 million. That page also describes no general donation request process for organizations. Use dgliteracy.org for rules and dates, not older company pages or third-party grant lists.

Dollar General grants that aren't for organizations

Searchers for "Dollar General grants" often find two other Dollar General programs. Neither is an open grant for organizations.

The Dollar General Employee Assistance Foundation (EIN 61-1492355) helps Dollar General employees. Grantsights analysis of its 990-PF grants, pulled November 5, 2026, for tax years 2024 and 2025 counts 3,648 payments totaling $6,143,160, with a median of $2,000, nearly all to individuals for needs such as funeral expenses, natural disaster recovery and fire recovery. A nonprofit or school can't apply to it.

The Yellow Glasses Project is the foundation's public awareness campaign, which dgliteracy.org links from its homepage; Dollar General's newsroom announced the 2026 kickoff on July 20, 2026. It isn't a grant program you can apply to. Organizations should treat the Literacy Foundation's four programs and Beyond Words as the whole menu.

If you missed the 2026 window: other literacy money

The 2027 windows are at least 2 months away, and a $3,000 to $10,000 grant rarely covers a full program, so build a stack of funders around it.

Federal adult education funds through your state. According to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, states run multiyear competitions for Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) funds, and eligible local providers include community-based and faith-based organizations, volunteer literacy organizations, libraries, colleges and public housing authorities. Its Grants for Local Providers page (opens in a new tab) tells you to contact your state eligible agency. For an adult literacy council, that state competition is usually a far larger and steadier source than Dollar General. The adult education grants guide covers it in more depth.

Other literacy and library funders. Start with the literacy program grants guide, then the library grants guide and best grants for public libraries. For book giveaways, see grants for book distribution programs; for schools and classroom reading, see grants for teachers and schools; for summer reading camps, see grants for summer camps.

Other retail and corporate funders. Dollar General is one of several store-based funders. The corporate grants for nonprofits guide compares how company foundations work, and the Walmart grants guide and Target grants guide cover two other large retailers. Rural groups, which make up much of Dollar General's map, should also read the rural nonprofit grants guide.

Foundations that fund education near you. Grantsights' education funder lists sort foundations by cause and state using the grants they reported on their 990-PF filings, and you can preview your own state for free. For grants with live deadlines in education and literacy, run a search in the Grantsights grant database.

How Grantsights checked this guide

Grantsights checked the foundation's pages and filings on November 6, 2026, and checked the Form 990 grant totals against the 2026 recipient lists and Dollar General's September 2026 release. We confirmed EIN 62-1546736 on the Schedule I itself and in ProPublica's filing index for the foundation.

Source checked	What it shows	What to do with it
Grant programs page (opens in a new tab)	5 programs, next cycles January 2027 and spring 2027, Beyond Words link	Plan for the 2027 windows
FAQ (opens in a new tab)	Eligibility, maximums, allowed costs, Two Year Rule, 2026 dates, ID rules	Prepare your ID and budget now
About page (opens in a new tab)	15-mile radius, founded 1993	Check your address
2026 recipient lists (4 PDFs)	2,302 listings in 48 states	Look for peers near you
September 10, 2026 release (opens in a new tab)	More than $4.1M in youth grants, nearly $297M since 1993	Expect awards near the cap
Form 990, year ending January 31, 2026 (opens in a new tab)	$18,652,731 in grants; 564 itemized grants	Judge how much is open money

According to IRS guidance on its About Schedule I (Form 990) page (opens in a new tab), organizations filing Form 990 use the schedule to report grants and other assistance to domestic organizations, governments and individuals during the tax year. That's why the Schedule I count here (564) is far smaller than the 2,302 names on the 2026 lists: most small awards fall under the $5,000 itemization line, and the 2026 awards fall mostly in the next tax year.

Sources

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Dollar General Literacy Foundation grants open right now?

Not the four main programs. As checked November 6, 2026, the foundation's grant programs page says the next Adult Literacy, Family Literacy and Summer Reading cycles open in January 2027 and the next Youth Literacy cycle opens in spring 2027. The one route the page still links to an application is Beyond Words, a disaster fund for K-12 public school libraries, which lists no deadline.

How much is a Dollar General Literacy Foundation grant?

The foundation's FAQ sets the maximums: up to $10,000 for Adult Literacy and Family Literacy grants, $3,000 for Summer Reading and $5,000 for Youth Literacy. It says applying doesn't guarantee that amount. On its Form 990 Schedule I for the year ending January 31, 2026, the most common listed grant was exactly $10,000 (287 of 564 itemized grants).

Who is eligible for a Dollar General Literacy Foundation grant?

Nonprofits recognized by the IRS, public libraries, schools and colleges that provide direct literacy services in a state where Dollar General operates and whose address is within 15 miles of a Dollar General store. Each program adds its own rules, such as Family Literacy requiring adult education, children's education and Parent and Child Together Time.

How do I apply for a Dollar General literacy grant?

During an open window, use the link on dgliteracy.org to reach the grant platform at grantprograms.dgliteracy.org, create an account, pick the grant type and pass the pre-screening. Nonprofits use their 9-digit tax ID, schools their NCES school and district IDs, public libraries their IMLS FSCS ID and colleges their IPEDS number. Verification can take up to 48 hours, so register early.

When are the Dollar General Literacy Foundation deadlines?

In 2026, Adult, Family and Summer Reading applications ran January 8 to February 5 with awards announced May 8, and Youth Literacy ran March 5 to April 2 with awards announced September 10. The foundation hasn't posted exact 2027 dates yet, only January 2027 and spring 2027.

Is the Dollar General Literacy Foundation the same as Dollar General's other grants?

No. The Literacy Foundation (EIN 62-1546736) is the only Dollar General charity with an open application for organizations. The Dollar General Employee Assistance Foundation pays hardship grants to Dollar General employees, not to organizations, and the company's community page described no general donation application when Grantsights checked it.

Last updated November 6, 2026. Published by Grantsights from public sources. See our editorial policy, how we build and check guides, corrections and how we make money.

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