Group of Victims' Families Call for Nonprofits to Release Funds

A group of eight families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims have joined with family from other U.S. tragedies -- including 9/11 and shooting at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora and Oak Creek -- to call for nonprofits to release the "unspecified funds" collected after the December tragedy to families, according to a release Tuesday.

Simultaneously, the group proposed changes in the way donations are handled after such tragedies.

The release, subheaded "Stop re-victimizing the victims," cited "over 50 parents and family members directly affected by the worst mass shootings and tragedies in the U.S." The group called for non-profits to turn the funds over to Sandy Hook shooting victims and families, accusing them of a "disturbing pattern" of retaining or redistributing funds intended for victims after tragedies.

"The American public is incredibly giving when tragedy strikes," said the group of families in a prepared statement. "They donate generously to provide relief to the victims' families. Going back to Oklahoma City, we've seen families who have had to endure not only horrific loss but also the unimaginable task of wrestling with byzantine non-profit bureaucracies to access financial relief intended for them. It's time to stop the madness. We cannot watch this happen, yet again, in Sandy Hook."

The group also called for the federal government to establish a "National Compassion Fund" to provide a "centralized infrastructure" to manage funds for future disasters.

"We believe a National Compassion Fund will go a long way in restoring America's faith in giving so generously when our hearts are broken by such tragedies, a faith which has been tattered by the very nonprofits that profess to be helping us."

The largest fund to date, the United Way of Western Connecticut's Sandy Hook School Support Fund, has raised more than $10 million to date. In recent weeks, some family members have expressed frustration with the fund, specifically a donation process they see as slow and cumbersome.

In February, the United Way, working with the Newtown Rotary Club and the state's Office of Victim Services, launched a fund they said was specifically for immediate aid to victims' families. The fund is not drawn from the same pool as the Sandy Hook School Support Fund.