Turning Point USA is an American conservative^[1] 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded on June 5, 2012 by Wheeling, Illinois high school graduate Charlie Kirk.^[2] The organization states its mission is to "identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government."^[3] It is noted for its Professor Watchlist, which lists non-conservative college professors.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Their motto is "Big Government Sucks." They are a supporter of national conferences such as Conservative Political Action Conference, and they hold other conferences such as the Young Woman's Leadership Summit, High School Activist Conference and Young Latino's Leadership Conference.^[10]

Turning Point USA claims to have more than 1,000 chapters in colleges and high schools and has registered thousands of voters since 2012.^[11][12]

According to the Heartland Institute, Charlie Kirk was asked to join the inner circle of the 2016 Donald Trump Presidential campaign.^[13]

TPUSA's allies include academic David Horowitz (who wrote the original Professor Watchlist), Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, billionaire Foster Friess^[14] and Project Veritas.^{[15] [16]}

The Heartland Institute has also been a major ally of TPUSA.^[17]

Charlie Kirk has disavowed any relationship with alt right groups,^[18] although he has been a contributing writer for Breitbart News^[19] and TPUSA has shown support for former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos.^[20][21] TPUSA sponsored Mr. Yiannopoulus at University of Colorado and University of Miami.^[22]

Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point USA in 2012, when he was 18 years old.^[23] Mr. Kirk claims that his dream was to attend the US Military Academy but lost his slot to a less qualified person of a different gender and persuasion.^[24] He continued to live in his parents' home until 2015.^[25]

Charlie Kirk's father is Robert W. Kirk, the project architect manager for Trump Tower in New York.^[26]

In 2016, Charlie Kirk spent two months with Donald Trump's election, "working directly with Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Trump Jr. to move the millennial vote."^[27]

Charlie Kirk has compared Turning Point USA to the efforts of MoveOn.org, a progressive 501c4 organization.^[28]

Turning Point USA's non-profit board consists of Charlie Kirk (President), William Montgomery (Secretary/Treasurer), and George Hamstra (Director).^[29]

According to Bloomberg News, each of Turning Point USA's paid workers is supposed to meet a quota to make at least 1,500 student contacts per semester.^[30]

Charlie Kirk has appeared on almost exclusively conservative media outlets, such as Fox News, CNBC, and Fox Business Network. He has also had many other interviews with organizations such as Truth Revolt,^[31] Bloomberg Politics^[32] and Opportunity Lives.^[33] Volunteers will have themes every week, some of the themes include "The Healthcare Games," "Game of Loans," and "iCapitalism."^[34]

Turning Point USA's revenues were $78,890 in 2012, $443,859 in 2013, and $2,052,060 in 2014.^[35]

In June 2014, Young Americans For Liberty accused Turning Point USA of illegally obtaining YAL's membership list.^[36] In October 2014, Turning Point also had a conflict with College Republicans at High Point College when they attempted to register voters on campus. ^[37]

At Drake University, Turning Point was denied recognition as an official student organization based on student senate concerns that the organization has "a hateful record," "aggressive marketing" and "an unethical privacy concern."^[38]

At Hagerstown Community College, a student's attempt to start a Turning Point group was initially blocked when the school said the organization duplicated an existing group. The student's lawsuit led to the school revising its policy on student organizations, clarifying that school funded groups will be denied if they duplicate existing groups while unfunded groups face no such restriction.^[39]

First appearing on November 21, 2016, Turning Point USA also operates a website called Professor Watchlist in order to "expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values, and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom."^[40] The website lists academics who “promote anti-American, leftwing propaganda in the classroom” according to a blog post by Charlie Kirk.^[41] Tips are accepted from the public, and over 200 professors are currently listed.^[42] The website has been criticized as racist and pro-fascist, using surveillance type propaganda to manipulate ideas of truth, equality, and freedom.^[43][44][45] Critics have compared Professor Watchlist to the actions of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who tried to publicly identify American citizens as Communists and Communist sympathizers in the 1950s.^[46][47]

In 2016, Turning Point USA at Grand Valley State University filed a lawsuit against the trustees of the school. The complainants asked the court to prohibit enforcement of GVSU's Speech Zone policy and declare it a violation of the students’ 1st and 14th Amendment freedoms.^[48]

In December 2016, Politifact reported that TPUSA falsely quoted Nancy Pelosi.^[49]

In February 2017, Santa Clara University denied official recognition for TPUSA as a campus organization. The Associated Student Government voted 16 to 10 to deny recognition to TPUSA at the February 2nd senate meeting.^[50] As of March 2017, this decision has since been overturned by the Vice Provost for Student Life, and TPUSA has been recognized as a Registered Student Organization.^[51]

The Ohio State University Lantern reported that Turning Point USA was secretly funding candidates for student government across the nation.^[52] More articles critical of Turning Point USA appeared in 2017.^[53][54]