Inspecting rumor about Erika Kirk launching fundraiser after husband's death

After the fatal shooting of conservative pundit and Turning Point USA co-founder and CEO Charlie Kirk, a rumor began to spread that his widow, Erika Kirk, had launched an online fundraiser that raised millions of dollars despite already being a multimillionaire.

Some users accused her of "grift," suggesting she was rich enough not to need more money following her husband's death, as in one X post (archived) that included a photograph of Erika Kirk drying her tears with a napkin and a screenshot of another post that read, "Why does a man's wife do a GoFundMe when he's worth $12 million? Grifting.":

Link to tweet

As of this writing, the post had more than 5 million views and 198,000 likes. The claim spread elsewhere on X and on Facebook.

ValueWalk, a highly regarded website in financial circles that covers news and produces content to help people manage their personal finances, estimated Charlie Kirk's net worth to be around $12 million in 2025, including income from Turning Point USA and from speaking engagements, as well as his real estate portfolio. The last update on that article was made on Sept. 11, 2025. Presumably, Erika Kirk and the couple's children would have inherited at least part of these assets. Snopes could not independently verify that this net-worth estimate was accurate.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/09/18/erika-kirk-fundraiser/