Erika Kirk announces TPUSA headquarters renamed Buckman Campus after $10M gift

PHOENIX, ARIZONA: Turning Point USA has a new name on the door.

At a ceremony in Arizona held on the eve of Turning Point USA’s 2025 America Fest, cheers went up as Erika Kirk announced that the conservative nonprofit’s headquarters would officially be renamed the “Buckman Campus.”

The change honors Nelda and Karl Buckman, who donated $10 million to TPUSA earlier this summer, the largest contribution in the organization’s history. 

Before his death, founder Charlie Kirk had already promised the Buckmans that the campus he built would bear their name in recognition of their generosity.

He was assassinated in September, just months after the donation was finalized.

A gift made in time

Nelda Buckman said the timing of the gift now feels especially significant.

“You know what I loved about Charlie was he wasn’t afraid to ask,” Buckman told The Daily Wire. “I know that it’s well invested, and I know that it’s gonna be well used. I just am so excited to have that opportunity.”

Buckman explained that she and her husband had been waiting for the sale of their company to close before making the multimillion-dollar donation. That delay nearly pushed the gift past a moment she now cherishes deeply.

“We were able to give it in June, so he knew,” Nelda said. “It’s a joy to be able to do it, really and truly.”

The Buckmans have been longtime supporters of Kirk and TPUSA. The donation ensured that Kirk personally knew of their commitment before his death.

A relationship built over several years

Charlie Kirk’s relationship with the Buckmans stretched back years.

“The thing about Charlie that was fascinating to me is I would get text messages, and I would think, ‘Oh, how neat, he’s got a great intern sending me a Bible verse,’” she recalled. “Then I found out, no, that was Charlie. Sometimes I would send him a verse back or maybe something funny, but I always thought it was very interesting that Charlie was not too busy to reach out to the people he cared about.” 

These days, Nelda spends more time talking with Erika, discussing TPUSA’s future and the expansion of its high school initiative, Club America. But Nelda said their strongest bond isn’t rooted in discussing strategy.

Instead, it’s motherhood. “Erika and I talked about womanhood and what our culture has been teaching our young women and what we want to teach our young women.”

The two met privately in Florida ahead of America Fest and the campus dedication ceremony. Nelda said she offered Erika personal support and that they spoke candidly about the challenges of leadership, grief, and single motherhood while carrying forward her late husband’s legacy.

“We’ve met several times before, but this was just, just different,” Nelda said. “She shared where she’s putting her boundaries.”

Nelda and Erika embraced onstage at the December 17 dedication ceremony, which was held three months after Kirk was fatally shot. Later, Nelda said she noticed a visible change in Erika, shaped by the unimaginable ordeal. “The most beautiful thing to me was seeing her soft eyes again,” Nelda said.

Buckman acknowledged that Erika has had to adopt a fierce posture in the wake of tragedy. She credited her maternal instincts for helping her protect both her family and the organization. “We as mamas and we as women sometimes have to have those fierce moments, and to be criticized for it is the [saddest] thing," Buckman said.

Moving forward without slowing down

Despite the loss, TPUSA hasn’t missed a beat. The college tour continues. In fact, this year’s America Fest was the largest in the organization’s history. 

“One of the things that Erika said at the investors meeting in Palm Beach was ‘We’re gonna stay on the path that Charlie had us going on, but we will elevate,’ and I just thought that was such a beautiful way to put it. We’ll elevate, and we will grow,” Nelda said. 

The $10 million donation will probably play a major role in that expansion. Notably, the Buckmans placed no restrictions or conditions on the gift.

“We didn’t put any strings attached to it. It’s a gift,” Nelda said.