Searching for the networth of Turning Point USA runs into a wrinkle straight away: it’s a nonprofit organization, so it doesn’t have a net worth in the way a person or a stock-market company does. What it has are net assets, revenue and expenses, and those are reported in public tax filings. I’m deliberately not quoting a dollar figure here, because the numbers change every year and you should read the latest filing yourself.
What the organization is
Turning Point USA was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and describes itself as a group that promotes conservative principles among students. It’s widely covered in the news and has often been the subject of political debate. This article stays out of that debate and sticks to how its finances are reported.
For a general overview, there’s an encyclopedia entry at Wikipedia’s Turning Point USA page, which also points to its sources.
Net worth versus net assets
A business’s net worth is assets minus liabilities. Nonprofits use a similar idea but call it net assets, and it appears on the balance sheet part of the annual return. A high number doesn’t mean profit in a shareholder sense; there are no owners to pay. Money left over generally stays in the organization for its mission.
It also helps to know that a large organization can have several related entities, such as a charitable arm and a separate advocacy arm, each with its own filings. Reading one doesn’t tell you about the other.
Where to find real numbers
Here’s the short list I’d use.
- Form 990. Most tax-exempt groups file this annual return. It lists revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and the highest-paid people.
- IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search. You can confirm status and download filings through the IRS search tool.
- Nonprofit transparency sites. Several free sites repackage Form 990 data in a friendlier layout. Always compare against the original.
- Annual reports. Some organizations publish their own summary, though it’s less detailed than the return.
How to read a 990 without getting lost
Start with the summary on page one. It shows total revenue, total expenses and the year-end net assets in a few lines. Then look at the split between program spending, administration and fundraising.
Next, check Schedule B-related disclosures if available, though donor names are generally not made public for many groups. Look at compensation tables and any related-organization schedules.
Finally, compare several years. One year can be distorted by a large gift, an event or timing differences. A trend is more reliable than a snapshot.
Why the figure you see online may be wrong
Some websites list a single number labeled net worth for nonprofits, and it’s often just revenue or net assets taken from an old year. Others mix in related entities. Use a year-stamped figure from the actual return, and note the fiscal year end.
Filings also lag. Returns are usually filed many months after the year closes, so the newest publicly available data may be a year or more behind current events.
A fair way to talk about it
If you’re writing or posting about the organization’s finances, quote the specific line and the year, such as total revenue for a named fiscal year, and say it comes from a Form 990. Avoid saying how rich it is as if it were a person; that’s misleading.
The same method works for any nonprofit you’re curious about, whether a charity, a university foundation or an advocacy group. The data is public precisely so people can check it, and the check takes maybe fifteen minutes.
A short example
Say a filing shows revenue for one fiscal year that is much higher than the year before. That could reflect a big event, a large donation or simply timing. Don’t jump to conclusions from a single line. Read the notes, check the prior year, and look for an explanation. Journalists who cover nonprofits do exactly this, and it’s a habit worth copying if you want to quote the organization’s finances fairly.
If something still seems unclear, the organization itself may answer questions, and watchdog groups sometimes publish analysis of the same filings.
This article is for general information only and is not financial advice.
Related reading
- What Do Employees Say About Networth Realty? How to Read the Reviews
- What Percentage of Net Worth Should Your House Be?
Photo: Coyau, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
