AP Question: Turning Point has raised roughly a quarter billion dollars since Trump’s election. As the group’s finances grew, so did spending. Events grew more elaborate, featuring DJs, strobe lights and pyrotechnics. I know Turning Point has also helped cover costs for many who have attended these events.

• STAFFING NUMBERS:

• Turning Point USA (c3)—394

• Turning Point Action (c4)—46

• TPUSA and TPAction continue to grow every year, with TPAction alone looking to employ nearly 1,000 staff in 2024.

• TPUSA now has a presence on nearly 4,000 college and high school campuses with its new high school field team boasting more chapters than the original college program. 

• Over 600,000 high school and college students have been a member of a TPUSA campus chapter.

• TPUSA has launched TPUSA Faith (now with over 2,000 partner churches) and Turning Point Academy (approaching 50 school partnerships).

• In total, nearly a half million students have been trained, in-person, at one of TPUSA’s conferences, with hundreds of thousands of students involved in local chapters at any given time.

• Earlier this year, TPUSA merged with Candace Owen’s and Brandon Tatum’s BLEXIT Foundation, a leading organization reaching black and minority Ameircans with conservative ideas.

• TPUSA also maintains a network of hundreds of influencers with a combined online reach in the many billions of impressions annually. 

AP Question: In 2022, the $17.7 million spent by TPUSA on events and conferences amounted to roughly a quarter of the nonprofit’s total spending that year.

• Between sponsorships and ticket sales, TPUSA’s events nearly broke even in 2022, and the organization is on pace to break even in 2023. AmericaFest alone—which is this December in Phoenix—is on pace to have nearly 150 paying sponsors and nearly 15,000+ paying attendees.

AP Question: In 2021, Turning Point hosted a celebration of Charlie Kirk and Erika Frantzve’s marriage at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, according to a save-the-date we obtained. The event was also listed as a celebration of Turning Point’s ninth anniversary.

• Charlie had a small, private wedding ceremony with family and a few friends separate from TPUSA’s ninth anniversary celebration. Charlie and Erika paid for their own wedding out of their own pocket and without a dime of TPUSA funds.

• The TPUSA event was an elegant and gracious way for Erika and Charlie to mark a landmark in the life of TPUSA (the 9th anniversary) while also inviting a much larger group of friends and family to celebrate a landmark in their own lives. The event was approved by the board of directors with Charlie recused, and guests were asked to make donations to TPUSA in lieu of personal gifts. Many guests made such a donation, raising over $500,000 in charitable contributions for TPUSA.

AP Question: Turning Point Endowment reported more than $55 million in assets on its 2022 990.

• Charlie, the board of directors, and the executive team fully intend to build an organization that will stand the test of time and outlive Charlie, or any other prominent figures associated with TPUSA. Their commitment to safeguarding resources and being good stewards of donor money extends to a 50-100 year plan to continue reaching generation after generation of young Americans.

AP Question: Charlie Kirk has been paid at least $1.6 million since founding Turning Point. His compensation increased dramatically from $27,000 2016 to about $407,000 by 2022, per 990s

• Mr. Kirk made essentially minimum wage during the organization’s first 5 years. Mr. Kirk’s TPUSA compensation is still less than the Chairwoman of the RNC—even though TPUSA and TPAction, combined, are larger and more effective. Given Charlie’s reach and success, as well as the incredible growth of TPUSA and Turning Point Action, Mr. Kirk is underpaid based on a comparative analysis with similarly-sized organizations and even those which bring in significantly less revenue. Furthermore, Charlie donates, out of his own pocket, over $100,000 annually back to Turning Point USA. Furthermore, Charlie’s entire salary is underwritten by grants from a generous donor. It should also be noted that in addition to his personal charitable donations to TPUSA, Charlie directed 100% of his sizable royalties from the sales of his book “The College Scam” to TPUSA.

• Charlie Kirk’s salary history:

• Fiscal Year... TPUSA $ + TPAction $

• 2012-2013... $0 + $0

• 2013-2014... $1,754 + $0

• 2014-2015... $6,877 + $0

• 2015-2016... $27,231 +$0

• 2016-2017... $49,096 + $0

• 2017-2018... $80,674 (TPUSA) + $14,842 (TPAction)

• 2018-2019... $292,423 (TPUSA) + $0 (TPAction) 

• 2019-2020... $283,073 (TPUSA)  + $44,800 (TPAction)

• 2020-2021... $307,216 (TPUSA) + $98,200 (TPAction) 

• 2021-2022... $295,116 (TPUSA) + $98,560 (TPAction)

• 10-YEAR TOTAL... $1,343,460 (TPUSA) + $256,403 (TPAction) = $1,599,863

AP Question: Starting in 2019, he [Charlie] started to purchase properties. They include: A [property in Arizona]. The address is [REDACTED]. An apartment he purchased at [REDACTED]. A condo he owns on [REDACTED], which is listed in public records.

• Charlie Kirk is one of the nation’s top radio talk show hosts and podcasters. His radio program is nationally syndicated across approximately 130 markets and his podcast is one of the top-ranked and most listened to in the entire country. The Charlie Kirk Show was downloaded over 100 million times in the last year and he’s Salem Media’s #1 show as well as its most profitable host. 

• Charlie Kirk is also one of the conservative movement’s most in-demand public speakers. Charlie receives 5-10 speaking inquiries a week and while he often discounts his rate or appears gratis for certain nonprofits and homeschool groups, he now commands a speaking fee of $50,000 per engagement. (PLEASE NOTE: Mr. Kirk does not charge churches an honorarium. If they insist on paying for his appearance, Charlie directs them to make a donation to TPUSA).

• Given Charlie’s personal and private success, Charlie Kirk’s TP salary comprises only a fraction of his overall income.

• (Worth reiterating that Charlie Kirk donates $100,000 of his own money to Turning Point USA annually and directs his significant book royalties to TPUSA)

AP Question: Tyler Bowyer experienced a dramatic turnaround in his personal finances after joining Turning Point. Records kept by the Maricopa County Recorders office show two homes he [Tyler] owned were foreclosed on 2011. One was located at [REDACTED], the other at [REDACTED]. His [Tyler]former HOA, the Andersen Springs Community Association, successfully sued for thousands in unpaid fees and received a judgment in their favor that led to Bowyers wages being garnished, court records show.

• We reject the framing of this statement. Tyler Bowyer, like many young professionals, has been on a steady upward trend regarding his earning potential and salary. Tyler started at TPUSA working for minimum wage because he believed in the mission, values, and potential of the organization.

• Mr. Bowyer experienced a divorce in 2010-2011. He and his then wife owned two properties that were worth only a fraction of the value they were purchased for following the housing crisis. As part of the divorce Tyler had no knowledge of the judgment (it was listed as automatic) and had never received any information about it. He speculates someone originally received service for it, but he had no knowledge until almost a decade later. To be clear, the amount owed was only a few hundred dollars in HOA fees which turned into a decade’s worth of uncommunicated late fines and legal fees. Upon learning of this, he immediately paid off the entire amount on behalf of him and his former spouse. 

AP Question: He [Tyler] collected compensation of $255,000 in 2022.

• Tyler Bowyer is one of the most effective and accomplished political organizers and activists in the country and is underpaid based on comparable positions at similarly sized organizations. Tyler Bowyer is not in political activism and organizing for the money.

AP Question: In 2021, he [Tyler] and his wife purchased a [PURCHASE PRICE] home in [REDACTED].

• It’s not a [PURCHASE PRICE] home, it’s a [36% OF PURCHASE PRICE] home with an adjoining land investment. Tyler and his wife sold their prior home and benefited from increases in Phoenix-area property values. Instead of building a new home, they decided to invest the entirety of the profit into purchasing their current residence which has enough room for their three children along with adjoining, undeveloped land which they hope to eventually subdivide and develop or sell. The Bowyer family looks forward to a “badly needed” home renovation as soon as they are able to afford it (maybe years down the road after selling the land).

AP Question: A 2020 Tige ski boat is listed in his [Tyler] wife’s name, according to UCC loan collateral documents.

• The boat is nowhere near that value. The boat is shared with Mr. Bowyer’s wife’s family and the payment on the boat is around $350/mo. 

AP Question: Bowyer serves as the chairman of Superfeed Technologies, per AZ biz registration docs. The company designs apps, including those for Turning Point that will be used in the 2024 ballot chasing operation that is being pitched to donors. Other board members include Charlie Kirk’s mother-in-law and AZ GOP chairman Jeff Dewit.

• NOTE: Providing Charlie’s mother-in-law’s resume

• Tyler donates his time to Superfeed, joining the board at the request of Floyd Brown and Jeff DeWit. He is not paid for the work he does in his personal time with Superfeed.

• No one from Turning Point USA, Turning Point Action, or any affiliated entities receives compensation from Superfeed. Neither Tyler Bowyer, Charlie Kirk, nor Lori Frantzve receive a dime from the consulting work they do for Superfeed and consider their input a form of charity for the conservative movement at large. 

• Turning Point Action solicited other bids for developing the app and tech back end it would require for its ballot chasing efforts and the estimates ranged between $4-5 million. Turning Point Action pays Superfeed $205,000 a year in development fees and in return gets a custom app build-out while Superfeed is free to license its suite of products to other campaigns and ballot chasing projects. In fact, the arrangement with Superfeed saved Turning Point Action more than $4 million in development costs. 

• Lori Frantzve is a highly accomplished tech executive and entrepreneur who has employed as many as 40 employees through her own companies while maintaining top-level clearances with the DoD and the Dept. of Energy. She is highly experienced in corporate supply chain and quality management operations, business process analysis, and international standards as it relates to aerospace, and telecommunication and software environments. Her work on the board of Superfeed is done without compensation and she is not paid by TPUSA, Turning Point Action, or any affiliated entities.

AP Question: Stacy Sheridan is listed on business filings in California and Washington state for three separate limited liability companies: Lionrock Ventures, Cloverstone Ventures and GSM Strategy. These companies have collectively taken in at least $2.7 million from Turning Point nonprofits.

• Ms. Sheridan owns and operates perhaps the most accomplished development firms in the country, certainly within the conservative movement. As is the case with Charlie Kirk and Tyler Bowyer, her firm is, if anything, undercompensated relative to productivity based on comparative market rates. Ms. Sheridan and her team are valuable partners and champions of the work Turning Point USA does.

AP Question: There is some ambiguity, however. Some years the amounts listed as paid to her [Stacy] on 990 filings are different in separate sections of the same filing. The number could be as high as $3.8 million. (Some payments are listed in the top vendors section of the 990, other are listed below in the section on fundraising).

• See above. It’s not clear where the $3.8M number comes from. That figure is not accurate, however, and far outpaces any income Ms. Sheridan or her firm received. Regardless, Ms. Sheridan and her team are valuable partners, highly accomplished, and compensated below market value.

AP Question: While Sheridan’s name is listed on filings in Washington state and California, two of the companies were registered in Delaware, which does not require disclosure of ownership. That means we don’t know who else may hold an ownership stake.

• We are not aware as to how Ms. Sheridan has structured her businesses or finances. That said, we can confirm that no TPUSA board member, officer, or employee has any financial stake or ownership in Ms. Sheridan's businesses.

AP Question: Joshua Thifault, Turning Point's senior director of major gifts, earned $440,000 in 2022. He received an additional $129,000 for fundraising work that year through Blue Mountain Strategies, a limited liability company he founded.

• Mr. Thifault was previously a W2 employee before starting his own development company. Due to how Form 990 reporting is done, the reported compensation to Josh Thifaut and Blue Mountain Strategies is actually for 18 months, not 12, from January 2021 to June 2022. Regardless, Josh is one of the most accomplished development professionals in the conservative movement and offers his services to Turning Point USA at a significant discount in support of the organization’s mission.

AP Question: Montgomery, Kirk's Turning Point co-founder, was paid $450,000 for “printing” and a property lease over several years on top of  $262,000 in pay he collected from the group during his tenure, as ProPublica previously reported. A longtime business associate also received $106,000. 

• Bill has been dead for three years, and TPUSA has been an open book on his time with TPUSA.

• Regarding TPUSA’s current Board and Officers, Turning Point USA has a very clear conflict of interest policy in place that is followed expressly by all officers and board members. Each year, these disclosures are reviewed by TPUSA legal counsel, independent financial auditors, and a volunteer committee comprising attorneys, businessmen, philanthropists, and faith leaders. To date, no issues have been uncovered nor concerns expressed. In addition to this, TPUSA requires a mandatory bid process for all significant projects using third-party vendors. Finally, all TPUSA expenditures of $2,500 or more receive heightened scrutiny from the executive and finance teams.

AP Question: Arsenal Media Group received $613,000 for “marketing” and “ad placement" between  2020 and 2021. The firm was co-founded by Benny Johnson, Turning Point’s former chief creative officer, according to an archived copy of his personal website. He later denied that he held an ownership stake or played a formal role at the firm, which was registered in Delaware has not disclosed who its owners are.

• Direct all questions regarding Benny Johnson to him directly. 

AP Question: A $999,000 payment was made in 2020 to Clocktower LLC for a “research project on educational outputs.” The company operates from a post office box in Henderson, Nevada, and the only person listed in the company’s business filings is the president of a Nevada firm that advises on tax avoidance strategies. Can you explain what this payment is about?

• This was a research project directed by a specific foundation to fulfill a grant regarding educational outcomes for K-12 kids in America. Any insinuation that anyone from TPUSA benefitted from this is defamatory.

AP Question: In 2020, Donald Trump Jr. collected  $333,000 through his company Pursuit Ventures. A description of the expense states: “book publisher.” Can you explain what this expense was for?

• This transaction was completed by Turning Point Action, not Turning Point USA. TPAction purchased books for fundraising, activism, and educational purposes. TPAction was able to purchase these books at more than 50% discount bulk rate and utilize them as a key part of TPAction’s small dollar, grassroots fundraising efforts—a campaign that netted TPAction thousands of new donors whose combined giving raised the c4 significant multiples beyond the initial budgetary outlay.

AP Question: Former Trump bodyman John McEntee collected $107,000 for consulting work between 2021 and 2022 through a California company he created. Can you detail the work McEntee did for Turning Point?

• Mr. McEntee provided communication and fundraising consulting.

AP Question: Can you characterize what sort of roles key Turning Point employees have with these LLCs that are major Turning Point vendors? Who all has an ownership stake? Does Charlie Kirk have an ownership stake in any of the business? What about other key employees and board members?

• No TPUSA board member, officer, or key employee has ownership in, employment at, or a financial stake or incentive in any major TPUSA vendors, neither those listed on the Form 990 nor those other vendors that do not make the “five highest” list on the Form 990.

AP Question: A number of veteran GOTV operatives in the Republican party have said that the $108 million Turning Point seeks to raise is for its ballot chasing operation is exorbitant. Can you explain why $108 million is necessary? Many of these same critics were skeptical and have said that they saw little evidence of Turning Point being active in the GOTV space during 2022 midterms, particularly in Arizona. For example, the screenshots of Turning Point’s Campaign Sidekick account don’t show much activity.

• If the so-called “experts” know what it takes to build successful ballot chasing teams, why are conservatives apparently so bad at it? Why are we getting lapped by progressives in spending and in GOTV operations in key states and counties? Why are there multiple reports that canvassers that were supposed to be knocking on doors were instead sitting in Caesars Palace or falsifying surveys? This is a philosophical difference with the status quo that has delivered defeat after defeat for conservatives. Turning Point Action believes in a large, full-time field team that is in place long before election month begins, building relationships with actual voters and community groups. All expenses and budgetary outlays are listed in the prospectus reviewed by the AP.

• In 2022, TPAction was doing clip boards and tennis shoes work and it was nearly all volunteer. The organization spent a mere $500,000 via the c4, yet hosted well over 100 major door knocking events, recruited over 2,000 new precinct leaders with the project to be at 10,000 by end of 2023, and registered tens of thousands of new voters. TPAction also hosted Ron DeSantis rallies in 6 states supporting more than a dozen gubernatorial, senatorial, and congressional candidates.

• 2024 represents a giant leap forward in sophistication, resources, and technology. Why? Because the so-called experts continually fail to deliver what's promised and the entire space needs disruption if we're going to compete. But TP's philosophy is that more is more. We need groups that are serious about shouldering their part of the load to do more. No single group, including TP, will win or lose in 2024. Everyone needs to do their part.

AP Question: What can you tell us about Superfeed’s role in the upcoming ballot chasing operation? Bowyer, Jeff Dewit and Charlie Kirk’s mother-in-law are all listed as directors on the company’s biz paperwork filed in AZ. Presumably Superfeed stands to benefit financially if this $108 million fundraising campaign is successful.

• SuperFeed is a vendor that is building TPAction’s mobile application, and nothing more. The firm receives a modest monthly retainer for these services. SuperFeed has nothing to do with TPAction’s fundraising whatsoever. SuperFeed is not compensated based on app use or TPAction’s financial success. Therefore, SuperFeed’s payment structure does not change based on TPAction’s fundraising success.

AP Question: How do you respond to critics who say the effort sounds like a “grift?”

• Incumbent groups in this space or know-it-all critics should not be threatened by new groups getting involved in early voting and ballot chasing efforts. Much of this criticism is territorial or fear of losing fundraising. The truth is, the conservative movement requires more energy, manpower, and resources, not less, if we’re going to cut into progressive groups’ sizeable advantage and head start. We need all hands on deck if we’re going to win in 2024. We’re going to stay focused on results.