Underwriting ensures 100% of contributions to Colorado Healing Fund go to Club Q victim assistance
Dec. 6—Underwriting separate from public donations made to the Colorado Healing Fund will cover most expenses associated with administering the fund to assist victims of the Nov. 19 Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, officials announced Tuesday.
That means "all of the $1.9 million raised to date and all future funds raised for Club Q will be dedicated entirely to victim assistance," Executive Director Jordan Finegan said in the release.
The nonprofit fund, founded in 2018 by a group of victim advocates as a secure way for the public to donate money to benefit victims of mass casualties statewide, was designated as the official fundraising mechanism for contributions to help people affected by the shooting at the LGBTQ+ nightclub, which left five people dead and 17 injured by gunshots.
But several groups protested that not all the money would be funneled to victims and their families.
The fund takes a 10% administrative fee, which officials had told The Gazette pays for operational expenses the nonprofit organization incurs in its work.
The common practice angered some Club Q supporters, who started other online fundraisers and publicly criticized the fee system.
Victims and survivors from other mass shooting fundraisers receive 100% of what is donated, victim advocate Tiara Parker said at a news conference in Colorado Springs on Nov. 27.
Parker was among the 53 people who were wounded in the 2016 shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub, The Pulse, in Orlando, Fla. A shooter killed 49 people in the attack, and Parker travels the nation to advocate for victims' rights.
"The Colorado Healing Fund takes very seriously our responsibility to serve as a trusted point for the collection and distribution of donations in the aftermath of tragedy," Finegan said, "and we are committed to receiving and addressing constructive feedback."
Fund officials began meeting with potential underwriters in the days immediately following the Club Q shooting, Finegan said.
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She did not name specific donors but said "multiple funders have made commitments to underwrite administrative expenses for the Club Q fund."
Costs being covered include Finegan's salary, charges associated with the organization's annual financial audit and necessary operational expenses, she said.
The new approach could become permanent.
Finegan said the fund is examining other sources to handle administrative costs and "ensure the organization can maintain year-round operations to be prepared to respond immediately in the wake of mass tragedy."
The second-largest fundraiser in Colorado for Club Q victims, a gofundme appeal organized by an LGBTQ+ business, Good Judy Garage in Englewood, had amassed more than $866,000 as of Tuesday.
Organizer Faith Haug announced on Sunday that her company's fund was joining forces with the National Compassion Fund to create the Club Q Victims and Survivors Compassion Fund.
Victims' families from the 2012 Aurora theater shooting created the National Compassion Fund, after saying they were "revictimized" by fundraisers of nonprofit organizations that took an administrative fee from donations.
A local steering committee Judy's Garage formed will "develop a protocol" for how the Club Q money will be disbursed, Haug said in announcing that her fundraiser would merge with the National Compassion Fund.
The National Compassion Fund will vet, verify and administer the Club Q donations, Haug said.
