A Utah lawmaker has launched a fundraiser to raise $50,000 for a permanent memorial to free speech leader Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, where he was shot and killed on Sept. 10.
The DX Brief
- Utah state Senator Daniel McCay launched a GiveSendGo fundraiser to build a $50,000 memorial for Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University
- The campaign met its $50,000 goal in less than 48 hours and has since increased the target to $100,000
- Plans call for a bronze plaque inscribed with Kirk’s 2013 post: “Good men must die, but death can’t kill their names”
- Surplus funds will go toward a UVU scholarship supporting students in civic engagement and leadership
State Senator Daniel McCay, a Republican, created the campaign on the GiveSendGo platform under the title “Utah Valley University Charlie Kirk Memorial.” McCay said the goal is to build a “beautifully crafted monument” with a plaque inscribed with the phrase Kirk once posted on Twitter: “Good men must die, but death can’t kill their names,” per Newsweek.
The GiveSendGo page lists McCay alongside Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, Representative Trevor Lee, and Ben Rogers as organizers. “To celebrate Charlie’s enduring impact, we are launching this fundraiser to erect a memorial in his honor at Utah Valley University,” the campaign description states. “Our goal is to raise $50,000 to create a dignified and lasting tribute—a beautifully crafted memorial that will celebrate the principles Charlie Kirk gave his life for.”
By Saturday, the fundraiser had surpassed its $50,000 goal in less than 48 hours. Organizers have since raised the target to $100,000, saying the memorial will cost more than originally expected. McCay and fellow organizers met with Utah sculptor Ben Hammond to begin developing design concepts, which they plan to share with Turning Point USA and the public.
McCay told Newsweek he hoped the effort would serve as “a beacon of hope, rallying future generations to uphold and champion the cause of open discourse.” In the fundraiser description, he and fellow organizers wrote that Kirk “was more than a public figure; he was a mentor, a motivator, and a champion for young people seeking to understand and defend the values that make our nation strong.”
Kirk, 31, was the founder of Turning Point USA and a close ally of President Donald Trump, who has announced Kirk will be posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
At least one other fundraising page seeking money for a statue of Kirk has surfaced online, but it has gained little traction, raising only $10 toward a $70,000 goal.
A 22-year-old suspect in Kirk’s shooting, Tyler James Robinson of Utah, was arrested on Friday morning, The Dallas Express reported.