The nonprofit Turning Point rocketed to prominence by latching on to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and has raised roughly a quarter-billion dollars since
FILE - Former President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Turning Point CEO Charlie Kirk before speaking during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, July 23, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. The nonprofit rocketed to prominence by latching on to Trump’s 2016 campaign and has raised roughly a quarter-billion dollars since, much of it spent cultivating conservative influencers and hosting glitzy events.
“Any donor who thinks an organization needs $108 million for a three-state grassroots get-out-the-vote campaign is being taken advantage of,” said Erick Erickson, a nationally syndicated conservative talk radio host and frequent Trump critic. “It sounds like a grift.” Turning Point was founded in suburban Chicago in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and William Montgomery, a tea party activist, to proselytize on college campuses for low taxes and limited government. It was not an immediate success.
Contributions to the group doubled and then tripled — eventually climbing to $79.2 million in 2022, according to an analysis of publicly available tax filings. The group states that it now has a presence on nearly 4,000 high school and college campuses, operating as a conservative lifestyle brand that promotes hundreds of online influencers.
Kolvet said that much of Kirk's wealth was derived from his successful podcast and radio show, as well as public speaking fees, though he declined to provide earnings figures. Still, Kirk used his platform at Turning Point to help launch those ventures, which occupy a considerable amount of his time and could conflict with the 75 hours-a-week that Turning Point says Kirk spent working on organization business in 2022, the most recent year tax data is available for.
Kolvet said the money was part of Turning Point's"50-100 year plan to continue reaching generation after generation of young Americans.” He added that the organization's leaders were"good stewards of donor money.”In 2019, the group stated that its leaders would travel first-class or by charter plane, explaining later that it was needed in “certain circumstances” to “ensure the uninterrupted success of the organization’s mission.
Another individual in the former president’s orbit, Trump’s former bodyman John McEntee, also collected $107,500 for consulting work between 2021 and 2022, records show. Stacy Sheridan, Turning Point’s senior advancement director, is listed as a corporate officer for three limited liability companies that have received at least $2.7 million since 2018. She earned $180,000 in compensation during Turning Point's 2018 fiscal year. Subsequent salary figures have not been disclosed. Sheridan did not respond to a request for comment.
As Kirk's star has risen, Tyler Bowyer, Turning Point's chief operating officer, has assumed a greater role in the organization. Like Kirk, his improving financial circumstances coincided with Turning Point's fundraising success. Bowyer, who is an Arizona representative to the Republican National Committee and also served as a fake elector for Trump, is now helping to lead a commercial endeavor that could prove lucrative.
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