As a non-profit organisation created in 1996 by the Swiss Confederation (PTT), the foundation’s purpose is to collect and conserve items relating to the development of communication, and to provide any relevant information. The foundation directs and operates a museum devoted to the history and development of communication. Formerly the PTT Museum, it was taken over in 1997 by the foundation, renamed the Museum of Communication, and subsequently entirely refurbished. The Museum of Communication is open to the public. Following the dissolution of the PTT in 1998, responsibility for the foundation was transferred to its legal heirs, Swiss Post and Swisscom AG.

In 1999, the foundation was mandated by Swiss Post and Swisscom AG to administer the PTT History Archive and Library. Since then the PTT Archive has been managed by the Museum of Communication.

The Swiss Foundation of Post and Telecommunications History is not a funding foundation. Therefore, it does not accept third-party applications for project funding.