The Irish Institute of New York was founded in 1950 as the American Irish Feis Institute by County Mayo native Paul O'Dwyer. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to cultural and philanthropic endeavors. The Institute's building on West 48th Street served as the headquarters for scores of Irish organizations between 1952 and 1982. Since 1960 the Institute has distributed more than one million dollars to non-profit organizations in both the United States (US) and Ireland.

The American Irish Feis Institute was created in 1950 to establish a center for Irish activities in New York. The founders included Paul O'Dwyer, Sean Keating, Joseph F. McLoughlin, James FitzPatrick, Patrick Corley, Michael Mullvaney, William B. Burke, John Niblo, Dorothy Hayden Cudahy, and other prominent members of the New York Irish community. Their goal was to promote Irish culture and provide financial support for fledgling projects both in the US and Ireland. The organization officially changed its name to the Irish Institute of New York, Inc. three years later. In 1952, under the leadership of its board chairman, Paul O'Dwyer, the Institute purchased a building at 326 West 48th Street in New York City to serve as their Irish center. For almost thirty years, this building was headquarters to hundreds of Irish American organizations who paid little or no rent.

During its early years, the Institute was plagued with financial worries. The Institute tried a variety of fundraising schemes, including charter tours to Ireland and an annual fundraising dinner, the latter which proved most successful. With the political connections of Mayor William O'Dwyer and other public officials, the Institute was able to feature such figures as Congressman Charles Buckley (D-NY), and Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) as honored guests at the annual dinner. By 1960, the Institute had paid off its mortgage and began to establish its grant fund. The first grant was awarded that year to the Irish Arts Council in Dublin in the amount of $5,000. In 1966, the Institute contributed $150,000 to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Arboretum in Wexford as a memorial to the late president and an attempt to aid Ireland's reforestation project.

The Institute was forced to sell the original building at West 48th Street in 1982 due to rising costs and a decreasing New York Irish population. A result of this sale, however, was an increase the Institute's grant awards. Grants in excess of $100,000 were made to the Irish American Cultural Institute for scholarship purposes and to the New York Irish History Roundtable to commission the publication, The New York Irish, edited by Ronald H. Bayor and Timothy Meagher, a collection of scholarly essays published in 1996.

Since 1990 the Irish Institute has supported the work of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center and its predecessor, the Irish Immigration Reform Movement (with grants totaling more than $75,000), as well as Glucksman Ireland House at New York University, the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry and the Conway Mill Project in West Belfast.