How does Turning Point USA compensation compare to other political nonprofit organizations?
This fact-check may be outdated. Consider refreshing it to get the most current information.
Executive summary
Available salary databases report wide variation for Turning Point USA pay: Salary.com lists a Turning Point USA average around $81,600–$81,628 annually (about $39/hour) while Glassdoor and Indeed show much lower role-level medians (Glassdoor field-rep and role ranges; Indeed reports many hourly figures and a ~$3,089 monthly field-rep figure) [1] [2] [3] [4]. Public filings and nonprofit trackers are available for exact executive compensation and revenues but are not summarized in the provided search snippets here [5].
1. What the headline numbers say — conflicting data from third‑party sites
Commercial salary sites disagree sharply: Salary.com reports an average Turning Point USA employee salary roughly $81,628 per year (about $39/hour) and salary ranges roughly $71,626–$93,226 [1] [6]. Glassdoor user-submitted totals show lower averages for many roles — Glassdoor lists a Field Representative at approximately $49,329 in one scrape and role-by-role variation across 179 submissions [2] [7]. Indeed’s snapshots put many positions at hourly rates under $25 and report a median monthly field-rep take of about $3,089, which is substantially below Salary.com’s corporate average [3] [4]. These contradictions reflect different samples, methodologies and possibly different Turning Point entities being reported.
2. Why the numbers diverge — methodology and sample bias matter
Salary.com typically models pay using HR and market-benchmarking inputs and reports an “average” that may be weighted toward salaried, management, or HQ positions [1] [6]. Glassdoor and Indeed rely on voluntary employee submissions and job postings; those datasets overrepresent frontline staff or recent listings and can skew lower [2] [3]. Glassdoor also shows large within-role variation for a single job title — for example a Field Representative’s reported pay ranges widely across percentiles [8]. The disparity between an $81k “average” and sub-$50k role reports is consistent with different mixes of senior staff, field reps and part‑time interns being captured [1] [2] [3].
3. Context within Turning Point’s network — related entities may pay differently
Turning Point Action, the sister (c) organization, has higher reported averages on Salary.com — about $90,533 annually — suggesting pay varies across affiliated entities and legal vehicles [9]. Networth/aggregate reporting snippets also suggest Turning Point organizations have grown large in revenue in recent years (tens of millions), which creates scope for higher executive pay in filings — but the specific executive compensation numbers are not fully presented in the supplied snippets [10] [5].
4. How this compares to other political nonprofits — limited direct comparisons in the sources
Available sources here do not provide systematic, apples‑to‑apples comparisons between Turning Point USA and other major political nonprofits’ average compensation. Salary.com provides peer benchmarking tools in its full product but the search excerpts do not list direct comparator nonprofits or their medians in the supplied material [11]. Therefore, the current reporting does not let us definitively say whether Turning Point pays more or less than other political nonprofits overall; available sources do not mention a direct cross‑group ranking.
5. Executive pay and public filings — where to verify high‑level figures
ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer is cited as the appropriate public source to find IRS Form 990 data—executive compensation, revenues and expenses are available there for nonprofits like Turning Point USA — that’s the place to verify CEO pay and organization revenue in official filings [5]. The NetWorthSpot summary in the excerpts claims Charlie Kirk’s salary was reported over $325,000 in an earlier year and cites revenue growth to an estimated $81.7 million by 2025, but those figures in the snippet should be confirmed on primary filings because the summary aggregates multiple sources [10].
6. What readers should watch for — transparency, entity mix, and job types
Readers must watch two things when judging “how Turning Point pays”: which legal entity is reported — TPUSA (c), Turning Point Action (c), or other affiliates — because pay and fundraising differ across them [9]; and job mix — a high average can mask many lower-paid field and intern roles while a low role median can hide highly paid executives [8] [1]. The disparate numbers across Glassdoor, Indeed and Salary.com reflect these structural issues rather than a single settled truth [2] [3] [1].
Limitations: this analysis uses only the supplied search results; it does not include a direct review of IRS Form 990s or complete datasets that would permit a definitive ranking versus other nonprofits [5]. For precise executive pay and formal comparisons, consult ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer and the original Form 990s referenced there [5].