I'm not starting this thread to bash this guy, though in this environment it's likely to happen. But I don't know enough about him personally to have a firm opinion about his position but there is just something about him that is facilitating. He one of the best debaters I've ever seen and devoted to his Faith. I mean this guy has made a pile of cash heading so called non profits that seem to have a lot of profit.

Just curious about others opinions of him. I mean this guy has made a pile of cash heading his TPUSA that seems to be possibly the biggest influence on the young vote that move towards Trump. Don't know his full background but he appears to be self made and may possibly the only person that can outwork Trump. The dude is everywhere.

Christian Kirk > Captain James T. Kirk >> Charlie Kirk

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Just curious about others opinions of him. I mean this guy has made a pile of cash heading so called non profits that seem to have a lot of profit.

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If the left can do it, I don't have a problem with people on the right doing it.

And, I like Charlie Kirk. He says what needs to be said.

Not for profit is a designation for purposes of the tax code. It does not mean that an organization is a charity or that it cannot generate revenue. Non for profit organizations that through the execution of their charter generate a lot of revenue and sustain that growth pay their leadership well to continue delivering the growth.

Charlie Kirk has earned a good paycheck because he has been effective in leading his organization. In 2016 Turning Point USA generated $4.3MM in revenue. In 2022 Turning Point USA generated $55MM in revenue. What's a fair rate of compensation for the CEO?

Contrast Charlie with the departing CEO of Boeing who got a huge bonus while the company's share price collapsed and the bad news on quality and accountability just keeps piling up. It's irrelevant that one individual leads a not for profit company and the other leads a for profit public company. In theory, they both get paid for performance.


edit: In 2019 when TPUSA raised $28.5MM, Charlie Kirk's salary was $292k. That's quite humble as compared to the CEO compensation for many for-profit start-up companies.

Ulysses90 said:

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Not for profit is a designation for purposes of the tax code. It does not mean that an organization is a charity or that it cannot generate revenue. Non for profit organizations that through the execution of their charter generate a lot of revenue and sustain that growth pay their leadership well to continue delivering the growth.

Charlie Kirk has earned a good paycheck because he has been effective in leading his organization. In 2016 Turning Point USA generated $4.3MM in revenue. In 2022 Turning Point USA generated $55MM in revenue. What's a fair rate of compensation for the CEO?

Contrast Charlie with the departing CEO of Boeing who got a huge bonus while the company's share price collapsed and the bad news on quality and accountability just keeps piling up. It's irrelevant that one individual leads a not for profit company and the other leads a for profit public company. In theory, they both get paid for performance.

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This

Username checks out?

Foreverconservative said:

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I'm not starting this thread to bash this guy, though in this environment it's likely to happen. But I don't know enough about him personally to have a firm opinion about his position but there is just something about him that gives me a Joel Osteen vibe that makes me not trust him.

Just curious about others opinions of him. I mean this guy has made a pile of cash heading so called non profits that seem to have a lot of profit.

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I used to listen to him regularly but he was definitely in the camp that completely sold out to Trump during the Primaries. He was a huge DeSantis fan and interviewed him and praised him. Then during the primaries he would allow every wild theory about him to be spread and he relies on the completely corrupt Rich Baris as his main pollster as an expert.

I distinctly remember the moment it happened btw. He did his first big show with Baris on the Primary a couple months before DeSantis announced but when everyone knew he was running. He started off the show with a lengthy speech about how we should cancel the primary and simply nominate Trump and then use all the money we would have spent for his grass roots campaigns. Then after talking about how Trump had already won before it started he went through the other candidates and potential candidates who hadn't yet announced for at least 20 minutes. He spent about 30 seconds on DeSantis and mainly focused on how he wasn't likely to run.

I had grown suspicious of him after he had spent months trying to get momentum to take out Ronna McDaniel as head of the RNC and then when Trump backed her during the convention after DeSantis had gone out on a limb opposing her to support his cause he never said a critical word about Trump. Essentially Trump sold him out and all the work he had done when Trump's support would have made the difference and Kirk just got in line. DeSantis' reward for this was what happened above.

I like a lot of what he says and he presents well. He's particularly effective talking to college students. Just know what he is and who owns him.

Young successful people can't have nice houses? I've met him, seemed better than what you're hinting at.

Foreverconservative said:

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I'm not starting this thread to bash this guy, though in this environment it's likely to happen. But I don't know enough about him personally to have a firm opinion about his position but there is just something about him that gives me a Joel Osteen vibe that makes me not trust him.

Just curious about others opinions of him. I mean this guy has made a pile of cash heading so called non profits that seem to have a lot of profit.

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I don't understand the comparison to Osteen. I've seen a lot of Kirk's clips and I don't think I've ever heard him talk about religion or tell people they will be blessed by God if they send him lots of money so he can live in a $5 million house and own 15 cars. He seems to be purely political and cultural.

"Don't let perfect be the enemy of good."

Trump's base was just too big. Nobody was breaking through. Even a Desantis who played things perfectly wasn't breaking through.

You' had to get dig deep in the political drama to find a wedge to highlight. It seems to me you're desperate for reasons to destroy conservative momentum that's not 100% aligned with your orthodoxy.

Martin Cash said:

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Foreverconservative said:

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I'm not starting this thread to bash this guy, though in this environment it's likely to happen. But I don't know enough about him personally to have a firm opinion about his position but there is just something about him that gives me a Joel Osteen vibe that makes me not trust him.

Just curious about others opinions of him. I mean this guy has made a pile of cash heading so called non profits that seem to have a lot of profit.

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I don't understand the comparison to Osteen. I've seen a lot of Kirk's clips and I don't think I've ever heard him talk about religion or tell people they will be blessed by God if they send him lots of money so he can live in a $5 million house and own 15 cars. He seems to be purely political and cultural.

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Well if you actually listened to Osteen you'd know he really doesn't talk about religion either.

Foreverconservative said:

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I'm not starting this thread to bash this guy, though in this environment it's likely to happen. But I don't know enough about him personally to have a firm opinion about his position but there is just something about him that gives me a Joel Osteen vibe that makes me not trust him.

Just curious about others opinions of him. I mean this guy has made a pile of cash heading so called non profits that seem to have a lot of profit.

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He started TPUSA when he was 18. I'll send you something below, but in 12 years, with no college education, he's wise beyond 80% to 85% of college graduates. He backs up everything he says and is excellent at explaining his positions, thoughts, and actions.

This is from a 12th anniversary podcast three weeks ago. It should give you a little idea of where he comes from and how it's grown.

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/7rlFTTVI2D4sgXFiNm6fUU?si=10f1cec464c0490a

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He's driven by his Christianity, so if you don't like that part, skip to the next podcast or interview. He has excellent guests.

I'm sure the DOJ, IRS, and all news ops are running investigations due to his effectiveness. I listen to learn and will do so for anything that's accurate, honest, and educates me.

Now do BLM

Get Off My Lawn said:

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It seems to me you're desperate for reasons to destroy conservative momentum that's not 100% aligned with your orthodoxy.

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That seems like a huge overreach. He gave his thoughts on Charlie Kirk and his loyalties. It sounds like your orthodoxy that was threatened.

Although you are technically correct, I'm not sure that it's right for the CEO of a non-profit to be siphoning off large amounts of donations to his or her personal account.

Is his salary and compensation fully disclosed to donors?

I know that I'd not give to a non-profit that seems to be merely a way for its CEO to get rich.

fasthorse05 said:

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Foreverconservative said:

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I'm not starting this thread to bash this guy, though in this environment it's likely to happen. But I don't know enough about him personally to have a firm opinion about his position but there is just something about him that gives me a Joel Osteen vibe that makes me not trust him.

Just curious about others opinions of him. I mean this guy has made a pile of cash heading so called non profits that seem to have a lot of profit.

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He started TPUSA when he was 18. I'll send you something below, but in 12 years, with no college education, he's wise beyond 80% to 85% of college graduates. He backs up everything he says and is excellent at explaining his positions, thoughts, and actions.

This is from a 12th anniversary podcast three weeks ago. It should give you a little idea of where he comes from and how it's grown.

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/7rlFTTVI2D4sgXFiNm6fUU?si=10f1cec464c0490a

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He's driven by his Christianity, so if you don't like that part, skip to the next podcast or interview. He has excellent guests.

I'm sure the DOJ, IRS, and all news ops are running investigations due to his effectiveness. I listen to learn and will do so for anything that's accurate, honest, and educates me.

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I never made any mention of Christianity or what his stance is as far as religion. For all I care he can be Jewish it has no bearing on my opinion.

You people that try and equate my mentioning Osteen and Christianity are laughable because Osteen isn't about Christianity or Christ. He's a feel good motivational speaker who uses his ministry to avoid partial irs scrutiny

No, not at all.

I hadn't even completed reading that particular post. Folks in general tend to have a VERY strong opinion on Christianity and Kirk's beliefs are revealed in probably 25% to 30% of his podcast.

The point I was attempting to make was I believe the information and education is extremely valuable for all Americans, enough so that anyone who has an issue with that particular faith should skip it to get to more concrete topics.

Not meant to be personal. He's a strong leader.

BTW, I've never listened to Osteen. Nice hair though, I'm jealous!

Get Off My Lawn said:

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"Don't let perfect be the enemy of good."

Trump's base was just too big. Nobody was breaking through. Even a Desantis who played things perfectly wasn't breaking through.

You' had to get dig deep in the political drama to find a wedge to highlight. It seems to me you're desperate for reasons to destroy conservative momentum that's not 100% aligned with your orthodoxy.

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Nope. I'm just intellectually honest. I agree and have posted repeatedly DeSantis was not going to win because of how the deck was stacked. Just pointing out that Kirk sold out on many of his principles to bash DeSantis and push Trump. Abortion is another example. Kirk is ultra pro life supposedly but he looks the other way for Trump and ignored all that DeSantis had done to push the exact policies he advocated.

Kirk is welcome to be a Trump shill but that's what he is. He wouldn't even give DeSantis a fair shot and even made up stuff about him. That's ok I guess just know where his bread is buttered.

Most media folks on both sides will sell out, he isn't unique. Tucker Carlson did as well.

Jabin said:

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Although you are technically correct, I'm not sure that it's right for the CEO of a non-profit to be siphoning off large amounts of donations to his or her personal account.

Is his salary and compensation fully disclosed to donors?

I know that I'd not give to a non-profit that seems to be merely a way for its CEO to get rich.

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Yes, the compensation of Charlie Kirk is available to the public in their IRS. 990 filings. Anyone can easily look it up on a variety of websites.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/800835023

As for your characterization that Charlie Kirk is "siphoning off large amounts of donations", Charlie Kirk's salary plus additional compensation for travel and expenses in 2022 is 0.5% of the $80MM in revenue for TPUSA that year. Supposing that I support the messaging of TPUSA, Charlie Kirk is a screaming bargain as a fundraiser and the public face of that organization. Triple his compensation and he would still be a bargain.

Just for the sake of comparison, I looked up the Senper Fi Fund and the Wounded Warrior Project to look at their executive compensation. The Semper Fi Fund raised $49MM and their CEO receives compensation that is also 0.5% of revenues. The Wounded Warrior Project raised $349MM and their CEO's compensation was 1.4%.

On what basis would you consider any of those examples of executive compensation to be "siphoning off a large amounts of donations ?" Anybody capable of raising that type of money and earning less than $1MM annually could easily get a better paying job in the for profit world. Besides which, TPUSA is highly effective at what their charter claims to do.

These talking heads are just pied pipers on either side. If they can make a living off that, good for them.

This guy must be outstanding to be attacked by the far left so much.

I'm highly suspicious of anyone who opposes ranked choice voting.

He used to be a fairly down-the-line neocon who really attached himself to America First and Trump. He was basically 10 Years Younger Ben Shapiro For Dumbies (including all the clips pwning college libs) until Trump came along.

Part of the problem with these guys who make their money in the online sphere is that the way to make the money was to go hard for Trump. As aggie93 posted above, Kirk will change his tune on any issue to mirror Trump. in my opinion, it's because that is the easiest way to gain followers on the right.

Is that Charlie Kirk's house in the OP? If so, how's he paying for it with a salary of only ~300K?

Also, 990's are what they are, but there are ways to hide income streams to key employees. A common way is to have the key employees also own major vendors that support the non-profit and divert large streams of cash to those vendors and thus the key employees.

ETA:

I pulled up the 990s for some related organization to which TPUSA makes "grants", such as TP Endowment. If I'm reading it correctly, Kirk appears to draw additional compensation of ~$400K from it.

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Is that Charlie Kirk's house in the OP? If so, how's he paying for it with a salary of only ~300K?

Also, 990's are what they are, but there are ways to hide income streams to key employees. A common way is to have the key employees also own major vendors that support the non-profit and divert large streams of cash to those vendors and thus the key employees.

ETA:

I pulled up the 990s for some related organization to which TPUSA makes "grants", such as TP Endowment. If I'm reading it correctly, Kirk appears to draw additional compensation of ~$400K from it.

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I don't know if those are pics of Charlie Kirk's house, I didn't post them. Ask the OP. The pictures (courtesy of Google Lens) are of a house in Scottsdale AZ that was sold in 2023 for $4.75M.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10234-E-Journey-Ln-Scottsdale-AZ-85255/81993859_zpid/

I believe that mortgages are easily available for such a property for someone pulling down $300k annually, or perhaps $700k with the grants from the endowment (which still adds up to just 1% of TPUSA's annual revenue).

Being able to command some decent speaking fees, I'm sure that Charlie has an LLC and some other business interests that generate revenue apart from his TPUSA income. He has a podcast that is downloaded by half a million people daily so that probably generated enough money to pay the mortgage.

Perhaps you should apply for one of those IRS field agent jobs. If it's so obvious that he's doing something wrong, the IRS must be ignoring Charlie since every other prominent conservative has been repeatedly audited. They got Dinesh for a $20k campaign donation so surely they could find some dirt on Charlie.

Yes that's one of his houses

Oh no! Someone's making money and they're not a lib!

techno-ag said:

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Oh no! Someone's making money and they're not a lib!

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Not sure anybody has a problem with him making money. My issue is that I have no idea how people like him, who clearly change their opinions based on what gets you the biggest following, have any sort of significant following.

There is no such thing as a non-profit. That term just means all profits are reinvested and not paid out to investors, but there 100% is profit. As well, the Pres., CEO and C level execs of many "non profits" have absolutely obscene compensation, primarily as they are not audited or held to task by investors. You would be shocked how many CEOs of non-profits earn $500K+ or 7 figures.

As for Charlie Kirk, he is awesome. He wears his views on his sleeve, will debate anyone, and is open to dialogue. Probably the best thing he does (or at least did, not sure if still doing it) was go on college campuses and have open debates / dialogue on any topic, total free-form, for anyone that wanted to discuss any political topic at all. The # of self-important, do-gooder, "smart / educated" libs that he embarrasses and dresses down with facts and reality is hilarious when they start to realize the stupidity and absurdity of their political positions / arguments.

Nobody is perfect, but a true conservative not afraid to talk is always good in my book.

Look guys, as a conservative in the public eye, especially one with any kind of a non-profit tag, the person in charge, as well as all officers, will have to be better at the message, the accounting, and all of the details. Y'all know why.

Kirk has made some reference in the last month to five different news ops having current investigations on TPUSA, which is likely true. I'm sure it's easy to find out when any, and all, of the employees have been contacted. I also suspect the IRS has devoted 10-20 investigators specifically to review TPUSA and all of it's tangent operations. It's also highly likely the DOJ has some kind of snooping going on. This shouldn't surprise anyone who's an effective messenger for freedom and liberty.

The Dems outspend the Right on election engineering by about 1000%, see below. Kirk is doing what he can to get ballot chasers in the key states because illegals are registering to vote in record numbers.

Point being, I don't know all of the details of the operation. I know a little, but not enough to "shatter" the views of the non-profit. I know he's a driven type A and viscerally believes in freedom and liberty. For that reason, I attempted to give a very brief response to the OP. I'm just certain his accountants and lawyers need to be on call, because the investigations are coming.

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https://open.spotify.com/episode/4vyTrr41Q07hAuWUh8uASF?si=af30c75669e14095

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The part you'll want to listen to is Cleta Mitchell. For most, you'll be shocked how much the Republicans are outspent on legal expenditures. They're outspent by several billion dollars.

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You would be shocked how many CEOs of non-profits earn $500K+ or 7 figures.

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I can't emphasize this comment enough. It's a staggering number.

Charlie is very good at doing what the left has done for years. There are two differences: he is a much more public face than most of the leftist NGO leaders (for one thing he's pretty good at it) and (for good reason) he's doing it in a space that has zero trust for organizers on the right.

We all remember what happened with the tea party. It was purloined by the right(ish) consultant class. It crashed and burned. The impact that TPUSA has on the zeitgeist and it's success in expanding across a large number of college campuses and in training large numbers of right leaning activists hasn't been matched. College Republicans is basically a non-entity. Training? Meh. Connections? Meh. Organizing? Maybe a pot luck.

TPUSA has a secondary generation already that is taking up leadership and is incredibly active in engaging the 16-28 crowd. It's Praeger U but in action and in your face. That's good, we've needed that for a long time.

Should anyone be suspicious of someone on the right acting like Ben Shapiro Thug Life Tour 2.0? Yes. Does it look griftery to be making a lot of money as a political organizer? Yes. Doesn't mean he's the most effective at doing this for this demographic on the right... really ever.

Shapiro has his place, I think the infrastructure they're building for entertainment is crucial. I'm not the biggest Daily Wire, or Crowder or Kirk fan. But they all have a place that is catering to new demographics on the right. You just can't cede these spaces forever.

Is he 100% right all the time or 100% to my taste? No. Neither is Trump or Cruz or lots of people. But do I lump him in for common cause and am okay with him being well compensated for what he's doing? Yup. Totally fine with that.

Blue star this is the kind of feedback I wanted instead of the petty normal school yard crap this place generally produces. Thank you