AURORA — A movie theater shooting victims group is asking the governor and others to take the nearly $5 million left in the Aurora Victim Relief Fund away from Community First Foundation and put it in a separate new fund.

“There have been two tragedies in Aurora,” group spokesman Tom Teves said at a Thursday. “The first was the theater shooting. The second is how the victims have been treated by the powers that be.”

Foundation executives deny accusations that they have mishandled and misrepresented the fund created in partnership with Gov. John Hickenlooper.

“Our sole objective is to help the victims and their families,” said governor’s spokesman Eric Brown. “We have heard their concerns. We are working with Community First Foundation to bring additional foundations, the Mile High United Way and the city of Aurora to the same table to help determine the best path forward.”

Dave Hoover, whose nephew A.J. Boik was killed the night of the mass murder, had a mixed reaction to the governor’s office statement.

“It’s good to hear the governor is stepping in — finally,” Hoover said. “But what we really need is to get the money out to the people who need it — not more bureaucracy.”

The Aurora Victim Relief Fund was started “to address the immediate and long-term needs of victims and their families,” Community First Foundation states on its site, Giving first.org, which solicited the nearly $5.2 million in donations made on behalf of victims.

“There is nothing in this for us financially,” foundation president and chief executive Marla Williams said. “When something horrible happens, people want to give, and it’s important they have a safe place to do it.”

Interest to be added

The foundation has waived all administrative fees and has paid all the credit card fees charged against online donations to the Aurora victims’ fund. Any interest earned on the fund will be added to it, rather than go to the foundation, officials said.

Members of the victims group, which has had at least 18 active participants, said Thursday they are disturbed that, contrary to what they were told earlier, decisions about payments from the fund were ultimately made by the foundation, not the 7/20 Recovery Committee.

Victims had been trying to get direct representation on the committee, which includes volunteers from the governor’s office, city of Aurora, law enforcement, Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, Cherry Creek public schools and the University of Colorado.

“The Community Foundation board is accountable for ensuring the funds are used for charitable purposes consistent with donor intent,” CFF vice president Cheryl Haggstrom told The Denver Post. “We’ve asked the 7/20 Recovery Committee to make recommendations — with victim input. We believe the board will honor those recommendations.”

At the end of August, the victims group called for direct cash payments to be made within 45 days to those injured and those who lost loved ones in the July 20 shooting at the Century Aurora 16 theater complex. Twelve people died in the shooting, and at least 58 were injured.

However, Community First makes grants only to nonprofits offering assistance to individuals, not to individuals, according to its website. For example, on Aug. 17, the foundation disbursed $350,000 of the fund to COVA, which sent $5,000 checks to 70 identified victims.

“Everyone in America who gave money to Giving First believing their donations were going directly to help the victims can now see this is obviously not the case,” Teves said.

Rich Audsley, special adviser to the 7/20 committee, told The Post there had been discussions at meetings with victims that a plan for fund distribution might be determined within 45 days, but not all funds would be distributed by then.

“End this madness”

The victims group is asking Hickenlooper to separate himself from his relationship with Giving First. It’s sending letters, Teves said, to Hickenlooper, U.S. Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennett, and Rep. Ed Perlmutter “asking them to finally put an end to this madness.”

CFF officials say it’s too early to know every victim’s needs.

The committee, through COVA, sent out surveys Sept. 7 asking identified victims of the shooting to indicate a preference for one of two models — money evenly divided across the board or allocated using a needs-assessment process.

The models are based on a combination of those used for providing relief after the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Audsley said.

The largest Columbine relief effort, The United Way’s Healing Fund, collected and distributed $4.6 million within six months of the tragedy. The Healing Fund’s directors also were criticized by many for their policy of holding money in escrow for long-term medical needs instead of giving it directly to victims. Victims’ families also disagreed over how the money should be divided and spent.

The 7/20 Recovery Committee remains committed to an inclusive process, Audsley said.

“We’ve had three meetings in nine days with the victims and their families,” Audsley said in a statement. “It is our responsibility to listen to all the voices, and we are hearing a wide variety of opinions on the work ahead.”

Electa Draper: 303-954-1276, edraper@denverpost.com or twitter.com/electadraper