Are there public IRS filings or Form 990 details that reveal Turning Point USA event revenue?
Executive summary
Public IRS Form 990s for Turning Point USA and related entities are publicly available and include organization-level revenue and expense lines, but do not break out detailed “event revenue” labeled that way; researchers can find overall revenue, program service revenue, and exhibition/conference income reported on schedules of the 990s hosted by ProPublica, DocumentCloud and TPUSA’s own PDF filings (see ProPublica and DocumentCloud) [1][2][3].
1. What the 990s actually show — headline numbers and where to find them
Turning Point USA’s Form 990 filings are publicly posted in multiple repositories: the IRS-digitized record view on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, a full filing view on ProPublica/DocumentCloud, and a PDF on TPUSA’s site that includes Schedule O and other schedules [1][4][2][3]. Those filings list total revenue, program service revenue, contributions, grants, and major expense categories; they are the authoritative public IRS disclosure for nonprofit finances [1][5].
2. “Event revenue” on a 990 — how it’s reported in practice
Form 990 does not always use a single line called “event revenue.” Revenue tied to conferences, conventions or ticketed events commonly appears under program service revenue, “other revenue,” or specific line items on Schedules (for example, program service revenue or exhibition income) depending on how the charity classifies the activity (available sources do not mention a single line labeled “event revenue” for TPUSA; see sample filings) [5][3]. The 990’s supplemental schedules and Form 990’s lines for program revenue or fees for services are the best places to detect event-related income [5].
3. Where to look inside the filing for event-related detail
Researchers should open the full Form 990 and its schedules—especially Part I (summary), Part VIII (revenue), Part IX (statement of functional expenses) and any applicable Schedules or Schedule O notes—to find program service revenue, fees, admissions, and contractual or vendor expense lines that correspond to events [5][3]. ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer provides both summary fields and links to full 990s; DocumentCloud and TPUSA-hosted PDFs supply the raw pages to read the notes and Schedule O explanations [1][2][3].
4. Limits in what 990s reveal about specific events
Form 990 gives aggregate revenue and expense categories for the fiscal year; it generally does not list income or costs tied to a named single event (available sources do not mention TPUSA listing per-event line-item revenue or per-event profit/loss in its 990s) [5][2]. The filings can show large increases in “program service revenue” or vendor/contractor expense that correlate with years when TPUSA expanded events, but connecting a dollar figure to a particular conference typically requires additional documentation beyond a public 990 [5].
5. Complementary public sources and their role
Third‑party services like CauseIQ, GuideStar, Instrumentl and Charity Navigator index and present 990 data (including downloads) and sometimes extract useful time-series figures; those platforms can speed analysis but rely on the same underlying 990 PDFs [6][7][8][9]. Journalistic accounts and financial summaries sometimes cite 990 totals and characterize the organization’s business model (events, media, donations), but those narratives interpret the filings and may add contextual claims not spelled out line-by-line in the 990 [6][8].
6. How analysts have used TPUSA’s filings to interpret event activity
Reporting and data projects cite TPUSA’s filings to show revenue growth and link parts of spending to events and programming; for example, analyses note rising revenues and event-focused expense patterns across recent years in the filings available on ProPublica and DocumentCloud [1][2]. Still, such inference relies on reading program revenue and expense categories rather than a labeled “event revenue” subtotal [5].
7. Practical steps to get a clearer per-event picture
Start with the most recent full Form 990 PDF (ProPublica/DocumentCloud/TPUSA-hosted) and extract Part I, Part VIII, Part IX and all schedules; compare year‑to‑year program service revenue and vendor/contractor expenses to spot event-driven spikes [2][5][3]. Use CauseIQ/Instrumentl/GuideStar for tabled historic values, then triangulate with contemporaneous press releases or event attendance claims if you need to assign revenue to a named event [6][8][7].
Limitations and transparency note: Form 990s disclose organizational totals and program categories but not a guaranteed per-event accounting; available sources do not mention TPUSA publishing itemized, event‑level revenue figures inside its public 990 filings [5][2].