During our 2006-2007 fiscal year, the Roy A. Hunt Foundation paid out $3,513,093 in grants to over 450 recipient organizations. The largest grant approved was $100,000 while the smallest was $500. The majority of grants were $5,000 in size. Declines were sent to 631 applicants.
      The allocations across program areas are illustrated on our website. The proportions are generally consistent with last year’s allocations:   

        19 percent to Human Services
        19 percent to Arts and Culture
        12 percent to Environment
        15 percent to Education
          7 percent to Public Affairs/Society Benefit
          9 percent to Health
          3 percent to International Affairs, Development and Peace
          1 percent to Religion

     Accounting for the remaining fifteen percent of our budget are our special initiatives in Community Development, Environment and Youth Violence Prevention, each at 5 percent. Most of our general grants (as opposed to special initiative grants) were for general operating support, a grantmaking strategy the trustees have preferred since the beginning of the Foundation and its predecessor, the Hunt Foundation. We think general operating support provides grant recipients the greatest flexibility in the use of the grant. It also helps to build capacity when given year after year to the same recipients, as is our general practice. Finally, it is administratively efficient, not only for grantees but also for mid-sized foundations like ours that are leanly staffed.
      The average fair market value of the Foundation’s assets for the 2006-2007 fiscal year was $88,833,270. Our administrative expenses, excluding investment expenses and excise taxes, totaled $437,015, or .5 percent of the net value of our assets. Our calculations indicate a 4.93 percent payout for the year. 
     The Roy A. Hunt Foundation’s trustees—now spanning three generations—bring to the Foundation a diversity of interests and political viewpoints. But above all, we hold dear the notion of family. Our founder, in fact, wanted the foundation to be a vehicle to keep the family together. Twice a year, therefore, we gather for all-day meetings. Our meetings include spirited and sometimes tough discussions. We nonetheless look forward to the mutual support and affirmation such gatherings tend to confer upon us as individual family members. We accept with gravity our fiduciary responsibility as well as our accountability to the public trust. After more than 50 years, we continue to be deeply involved in the operation of the Foundation. It is our legacy and the sense of belonging that provides us the sustenance to keep on going.

John B. Hunt
Chair, Executive Committee
August 2007