Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA started with $50K

Sep 22, 2025 - 07:00

Charlie Kirk’s conservative nonprofit, Turning Point USA, which has grown into an organization with tens of millions of dollars in assets and annual revenue, began with just a $50,000 seed investment.

Conservative philanthropist Rebecca Dunn reflected on how she and her late husband, Bill Dunn, first met the activist nearly 12 years ago, when he was trying to get Turning Point USA off the ground, during a memorial honoring Kirk in Arizona on Sunday.

Tens of thousands of people gathered at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Sunday to pay their respects to the conservative activist who was shot and killed during a campus event at Utah Valley University earlier this month.

"I was so impressed that I invited him to come to our home and tell my husband and me more about his organization," Dunn said. "That young man, of course, was Charlie Kirk and his organization was Turning Point USA. Charlie told us how he wanted to start two chapters in North Florida. When asked how much money it would take, he told us he thought it would take about $50,000," Dunn recalled.

Dunn recalled telling Kirk that if he raised the first $25,000, then they would match it.

"Two days later. Charlie called to say that he had raised the money he would. He was not in his hometown. He was not even in his home state. He was 20 years old. And yet he met our challenge. I laughed and I told him, I said, ‘well, Charlie, I guess we owe you a check’," Dunn told the crowd.

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Dunn and her husband continued providing Kirk with grants, each larger than the last, eventually reaching into the millions, she said.

Kirk's plan to start the organization first began when he was 18 years old. Rather than pursuing a degree, Kirk dropped out of community college to co-found the organization alongside Tea Party activist Bill Montgomery, and in short order, convinced an onslaught of wealthy individuals and foundations to back him and his mission.

The Bradley Impact Fund, which contributed more than $8 million in 2023, and the Dunn Foundation, were among his biggest backers, alongside the Deason Foundation and Marcus Foundation, which is tied to the billionaire Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus.

His now multi-million dollar political empire has been on a mission to "promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government," ever since, according to its website. Kirk intended for his organization to establish a foothold on every high school and college campus in the nation in order to spread his political ideology.

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Despite Kirk's untimely passing, Kirk's wife, Erika, declared that the organization would continue pursuing its mission as she was tapped as CEO.

Over the past week, donations continued to roll in with philanthropist Lynn Friess, who was one of the early donors of the foundation, announcing on social media that she will donate $1 million to support new Turning Point USA chapters across the country in the wake of Kirk's assassination.

Lynn Friess and her late husband, investment manager and political donor Foster Friess, were early supporters of Turning Point USA.

"Foster always believed in Charlie’s vision and often said that helping Charlie build TPUSA was the best investment he ever made. I know he would be grateful to see how Charlie’s legacy is inspiring young Americans to stand up for faith and freedom," Lynn Friess wrote in a note that was posted on the X account of advocacy group Foster's Outriders.

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Andrew Kolvet, the executive producer of "The Charlie Kirk Show," who also serves as a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo on Monday that the organization has received more than 37,000 requests to start new chapters around the country.

To date, Kolvet said, the organization has 900 official, school-sanctioned college chapters and 1,200 high school chapters across the country.