Boulder grocery store shooting victims' families demand donated money "stop being diverted" from them

Three years after 10 of their family members were shot and killed at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, the families of those victims are speaking out and demanding transparency for the money that was donated to their cause. In a release obtained first by CBS News Colorado, the families of the people murdered in the shooting on March 22, 2021, allege the Colorado Healing Fund – a nonprofit organization – has continued to hold onto donated money the fund collected from generous Coloradans. 

Despite signing on to a letter in November 2023 demanding more transparency from the Healing Fund, the families say "nothing changed."

"As recently as last month, after asking the Colorado Healing Fund the simplest of questions, the nonprofit has continued to stonewall us, unwilling to answer: How much is currently in the Boulder fund? Who is the treasurer of the Colorado Healing Fund? Who has the power to release financial statements to us? Must a board meeting take place in order to stop the diversion of Boulder funds elsewhere? When is your next board meeting? May our families address the board?" the families wrote in Thursday's release. "A real-time bank balance for the Boulder fund should not be difficult to provide if the nonprofit's accounting is in order."

The families also expressed concerns that the Healing Fund has refused to release a copy of its audits pertaining to how the donated funds were spent. 

"We demand that donations collected for us in the wake of this unspeakable tragedy to stop being diverted from us," the families said in Thursday's release. "We should never have been put in a position by this nonprofit or the state of CO. We demand full transparency and for the donations disbursed to our families now."

Victims also tell CBS News Colorado there are serious concerns with how a large portion of the donated funds were spent on a resiliency center in Boulder, something that many of the victims and their families living out of town couldn't even use. 

Starr Bartkowiak, mother of Tralona Bartkowiak, 49, one of the 10 people who was killed in the Boulder shooting, says she never approved the use of those funds for a resiliency center. 

"No one ever asked me if that was okay," she said. 

Although the Fund released a report in June 2023 explaining how the funds were used, Bartkowiak feels the report is vague and should have a better breakdown of expenses. And while the report says there was still about $620,000 left in June, she also feels the organization should be able to release a real-time, updated number of how much is still left in the fund. 

"Their transparency is nothing," Bartkowiak said. 

Documents from the Healing Fund also show it collected a 5% administrative fee from the more than $4 million in donations it received after the King Soopers shooting.

This is not the first time the Healing Fund has come under fire for its management of donated money for mass tragedy victims. 

As CBS News Colorado reported in November, Club Q victims were also frustrated. Some victims said they had to "beg" for money donated in their name. 

In November, the Fund refused to release its audits to CBS News Colorado and the head of the organization, Kevin McFatridge, said in an email, "We are a lean organization with only one employee. Experts recommend that nonprofits spend no more than 30% of their funds on overhead expenses. Our percentage is closer to 5%."

McFatridge also said in November, "The Colorado Healing Fund is audited by an outside accounting firm every year, and we account for every penny we receive."

Thursday, the Colorado Healing Fund issued the following statement in full to CBS News Colorado:

• The Colorado Healing Fund is completely transparent about the funds we collect and disburse. In fact, we publish regular reports on our website that are available to anyone.
• The Colorado Healing Fund follows a proven model for disbursing funds. This model was created by more than 20 of Colorado's leading experts in the area of incident response who evaluated numerous responses ranging from 9/11 to the Virginia Tech shootings to the Boston Marathon bombing to identify best practices.
• The Colorado Healing Fund's operations are governed by an independent board of trustees, which includes community leaders, legal experts, mental health professionals, and representatives from law enforcement agencies.
• The Colorado Healing Fund financials are audited annually by Kundinger, Corder & Montoya, PC and all audits have been "clean" or unmodified.

In Thursday's release, the families of those murdered in the Boulder grocery store shooting alleged the Healing Fund's actions have had detrimental effects. They would like to see state leaders hold nonprofits like the Healing Fund accountable for how donated funds are spent. 

"We are still grieving," they wrote. "The Colorado Healing Fund has re-victimized us and the state of Colorado is allowing them to continue to re-victimize us."