The Institute is a member of the Leibniz Association, funded mainly by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and by the state of Baden-Württemberg.

It was one of several research institutes founded by the Nazis in order to further the German war effort, which at that time was clearly failing.

After the war, Süss, a member of the Nazi party, was suspended for two months in 1945 as part of the county's denazification efforts, but thereafter remained head of the institute.

In that year, he and others formed the mathematical society Gesellschaft für Mathematische Forschung e. V. in order to run the MFO.

[1] On 10 October 1967 the guest house of the Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics was inaugurated, which was a gift from the Volkswagen Foundation.