Founded in 1972 by Judith and Robert Skutch and chartered under the State of New York's nonprofit organization laws, the Foundation for Inner Peace was initially called Foundation for ParaSensory Investigation. This early name reflected the Foundation's educational interest and support of parapsychological research in academia at the time.

On May 29, 1975, Judith Skutch met Dr. Helen Schucman and Dr. William Thetford—scribes of A Course in Miracles—along with their friend Dr. Kenneth Wapnick in their office at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, where Helen and Bill were medical psychologists. After exploring common interests, Helen and Bill revealed to Judith their well-kept secret regarding a document they had scribed called A Course in Miracles—made up of a Text, a Workbook for Students, and a Manual for Teachers.

Over the next few weeks, the group became bound together by their common enthusiasm for this remarkable spiritual teaching and began meeting regularly to study and discuss it. Within months it became apparent to them that this document was meant to be shared with all who found it beneficial or of interest. And so the decision was made—collectively and internally guided—to publish A Course in Miracles through the existing Foundation. The decision, also through guidance, brought the Foundation a new and more appropriate name: "Foundation for Inner Peace." It was a decision also reflective of the Foundation's new role as trustee and publisher of the Course, and the fact that Helen, through her own inner guidance which she had identified as Jesus, had turned the care and copyright of A Course in Miracles over to the new Foundation. (The copyright has since been transferred to the Foundation for A Course in Miracles.)

The first edition of A Course in Miracles, published by the Foundation for Inner Peace in the late summer of 1975, was actually a reduced-size, soft cover offset production of the manuscript, about 300 copies in all. The demand for the Course became so great, however, that a standard three volume hard cover edition of 5,000 copies was published in June 1976. Demand continued unabated, reaching about a million and a half copies now in print worldwide.

In 1982 due to growing interest in A Course in Miracles abroad, the Foundation established a translation program. The first translation, a Spanish edition published in 1993, was sequentially followed by editions in German, Portuguese, Hebrew, Russian, Chinese, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Slovene, Croatian, Swedish, French, Bulgarian, and Afrikaans. There are currently seven other languages in the Foundation's Translation Program, while still others  will be included as they become necessary.

In 1978, the Foundation for Inner Peace moved its offices from New York City to Tiburon, California. In addition to its primary activity of publishing and disseminating the Course, the Foundation has also published Course related works, such as "Psychotherapy: Purpose, Process and Practice" and "The Song of Prayer"—two subsequently scribed works by Helen Schucman—as well as a collection of her inspired poems titled "The Gifts of God." Documentaries and readings from the Course on video and audio cassettes, Workbook lesson cards, and a complete concordance to the Course have also been produced.

In 1978 Helen Schucman also scribed a personal message of guidance for the Foundation for Inner Peace that came from Jesus. In it the goal was given that the Foundation was not only to publish and disseminate A Course in Miracles, but also to discuss it. Kenneth Wapnick was designated as the group member who would be primarily involved with discussing the Course's message as part of the Foundation's overall activities. In order to facilitate the specific function designated to him, Kenneth and his wife Gloria subsequently founded the Foundation for A Course in Miracles (FACIM) in 1983. They relocated in Roscoe, New York in 1988 and established an Academy and Retreat Center. In 2001, FACIM moved its Teaching Center and operations to Temecula, California, an inland city midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. This Foundation therefore was conceived and has always functioned as a school for A Course in Miracles.

In early 1995, the Foundation for A Course in Miracles established the "Institute for Teaching Inner Peace through A Course in Miracles" as an accredited teaching institute. The Institute, incorporated under the New York State Education Law, has been chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York.

Historically it can been seen, lines between the Foundation for Inner Peace and the Foundation for A Course in Miracles have always been fluid, which reflect their shared purpose and common origins, and which form the background for their close association.

As a result and in an arrangement begun several years earlier, in 1996 the Foundation for Inner Peace assigned and conveyed A Course in Miracles' copyright and service mark to the Foundation for A Course in Miracles, after requirements and approval for this transaction had been satisfied.