Do It For Dominic D

On July 28, 2022, Michael “Dominic” DePalma, 17, was killed by a drunk driver. Thousands gathered—friends, family, and the Broomfield community to mourn the loss. Dominic loved soccer and was trusted teammate, indomitable opponent, and spirited student. 

After the losing her son, Tami DePalma, Dominic’s mother, formed Do It For Dominic D

Their mission: to prevent teens from driving under the influence and encourage them to make safe choices.

Posting day in and day out about such a personal, tragic, and devastating event can be exhausting emotionally and at times overwhelming. So Tami and the board recruited help. They found me through my work with Big Waves Inc.

During our first meeting we sat down, and we talked about:

• What challenges were they facing.
• Where they wanted to go with their nonprofit.
• Who were they trying to reach.
• What was working, what wasn’t.

It was clear from the start, Do It For Dominic D had a good grasp of who their audience is—moms, teens, and area soccer clubs. So we put it down on paper. Then, we crafted a content plan to engage their audience on Instagram and Facebook. 

Our strategy included WordPress website improvements to:

• Enhance the user experience, through navigation and subtle layout improvements.
• Make it clear how to take the next step: donate, volunteer, book an event speaker, or order swag.
• Deliver Dominic’s message of making good choices. 

We decided on Meta Business Suite as social media scheduling platform. It's free and has good built in reporting for a small nonprofits.

Tami already had a Canva account so we built a brand kit in Canva using existing photos, graphics, and colors. This made creating content streamlined and gave them a recognizable brand.

Tami and I worked together to write and schedule posts 1–2 times a week over the next 6 months aimed at our target market. We tagged local soccer clubs, highlighted soccer scholarship winners, sponsors and educational posts about the risks of teen driving under the influence .

Every week, our goal was to content that tugged at heartstrings while focusing on optimism for the future. These small changes added up to big results. See for yourself below.