The mission of the Roy A. Hunt Foundation is to support organizations that strive to improve the quality of life.

The trustees of this family foundation meet semi-annually to make grants to nonprofit organizations engaged primarily in Arts and Culture, Environment, Health, Human Services, Community Development, and Youth Violence Prevention.

While the Foundation also supports Education, preference is given to educational institutions of particular interest to individual trustees.

The geographic focus of the Foundation's giving is Southwestern Pennsylvania (primarily in Pittsburgh) and New England (mainly the Boston area), although organizations of particular interest to individual Trustees may be located anywhere throughout the United States.

The trustees maintain their historic interest in the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Established by Mr. and Mrs. Roy A. Hunt in 1961, the Institute is a unique facility for scholarly research in selective aspects of botanical history and art.

The Roy A. Hunt Foundation was established in 1966 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by the will of Roy Arthur Hunt. Its predecessor, the Hunt Foundation, was founded in 1951. These two foundations officially merged in 1994. Currently, the trustees include one surviving son of the founder, his eleven grandchildren, and nine members of the next generation.

The Next Generation Fund was established in 1999, sharing the mission of the Roy A. Hunt Foundation. Grantmaking decisions for this Fund are made by the great-grandchildren of the founder.

The Foundation is a member of two regional associations of grantmakers: Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania and Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts.