DOM KELLY

ATLANTA BASED nonprofit and POLITICAL leader

I’m an Atlanta based nonprofit founder, political strategist, disability justice advocate, and speaker. I bring more than a decade of experience and a deep passion for social justice to my work - and I’m ready to create change with you.

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SERVICES

In addition to the services below, I am also available for speaking engagements, panels, trainings, and more. Please contact me to set something up!

My consulting services include but are not limited to:

As an expert in nonprofit leadership and a political operative, I understand how to get people to act, whether that is to donate, volunteer, or vote. I know how to reach important constituencies and build strategy that delivers results. From consulting on grantmaking strategy at a philanthropic organization to senior advisor on a gubernatorial race to campaign manager for a mayoral candidate, my breadth of experience serves me well across sectors.
I’ve helped raise hundreds of millions of nonprofit and political dollars from donors all over the country, and I know how to create a fundraising strategy that is effective. I have extensive experience in major gifts, grassroots/digital, and peer-to-peer fundraising
I am a policy wonk and experience in disability policy, and I can help political campaigns, policymakers and organizations write legislation and policy platforms that will address the needs of disabled people and center justice.
I have more than a decade of experience in comms and messaging, digital strategy, building social media audiences, content marketing, paid ads and media, and more.
With a graduate degree focused on social impact, I can help build and execute your organization or company’s strategy for creating change.

WORK WITH ME

I served as Georgia Fundraising Director and Senior Advisor for Disability on the leadership committee to elect Stacey Abrams as governor of Georgia in 2022, helping raise tens of millions of dollars and creating the first disability engagement department in political campaign history.
I was one of five founding staff on Stacey Abrams' gubernatorial campaign, building both the fundraising and disability engagement strategies and serving as a senior advisor. In my leadership roles, I helped raise more than $100M in one year, led a groundbreaking disability engagement program, and wrote the candidate's disability policy platform.
I consult with Voqal to ensure that their grantmaking and philanthropic efforts, public communications, and internal policies are centered in disability justice.
As campaign manager on Bianca Motley Broom’s winning re-election campaign, I led overall strategy, fundraising and finance efforts, hire dconsultants, helped develop and oversee the field program, and advised on communications strategy.
I had the privilege of serving as Senior Fundraising Manager and Strategic Advisor for Disability at Fair Fight, fighting for voting rights in Georgia and across the United States. I led resource development efforts and built an advocacy initiative strategically focused on inclusion in democracy for disabled voters.
I founded and work full time as President and CEO of New Disabled South, the first and only regional disability organization in the United States. We are fighting for liberation and justice for disabled people in 14 Southern states.
I worked with PFLAG to develop two social impact campaigns aimed at helping pass the Equality Act in 2019. These campaigns utilized artists such as Indigo Girls, Antigone Rising, Ty Herndon, and more.
I consulted on communications strategy at Inside Revolution, a political communications firm, where I worked with government agencies, nonprofit clients, and more.
I founded and work full time as President and CEO of New Disabled South Rising, the 501(c)(4) arm of New Disabled South. At NDSR, we are creating a progressive political home for disabled people in the South.
I worked with River Network to develop a social media activation that drove people to take action during a specific weekend to pick up litter in their local communities. This partnership with Ball was also in the height of COVID, so my job was to create a compelling campaign that got people to take action in-person in a COVID-safe way.
I developed a social media strategy for VisionSpring and helped them garner more engagement across their platforms, working with their digital and communications staff to help focus messaging.
I built the social media presence for this new organization, focusing on audience development and brand awareness.
I served as a communications consultant to help Sarcoma Alliance garner more press and attention for their annual fundraising gala.

ABOUT

Hey, I’m Dom! I’m a nonprofit leader, political strategist, disability justice advocate, and speaker. I’m one of a set of triplets with Cerebral Palsy, and I grew up in the Hudson Valley region of New York. At age 6, we lost my fraternal triplet, and that catapulted me into a passion for disability advocacy and activism. After forming a band with my identical triplet and our younger brother when I was just 11, we sat my parents down at 15 and asked them to homeschool us so we could tour full time and be rock stars. Surprisingly, they said yes, and that started a career in music, making records and traveling around the world playing to thousands of people with artists like Indigo Girls, Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Bangles, Joan Baez, and more.

When I was 17, I moved to Charleston, South Carolina for some music opportunities, and during my time there I obtained a bachelor’s degree in music production. By the end of undergrad, and upon opening a recording studio in Savannah, Georgia with my brother, I realized my passion wasn’t in producing music. So, I decided to go for a master’s in journalism. I had been doing freelance writing for some time by that point, and after that, I was set down the career path that led me to where I am today. I eventually obtained a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice, where I also received the Excellence in Social Impact award. I also obtained an executive certificate in social impact strategy and a graduate certificate in interdisciplinary disability studies.
After living in Charleston, Savannah, and Atlanta for some time, I moved to Los Angeles with my now wife for a couple of years. I made important steps in my career there, but eventually, I decided that I wanted to go back to Georgia and focus my work on the South. My wife and I moved back to Atlanta where I began working in nonprofit and politics, first for Fair Fight Action and Fair Fight PAC, the voting rights organization and PAC founded by Stacey Abrams. At Fair Fight I was both a Senior Fundraising Manager and a strategic advisor for disability. After two years at Fair Fight, Stacey asked me to help build her campaign for governor of Georgia, and that’s when I became both the Fundraising Director for in-state fundraising and Senior Advisor for Disability. In my senior advisor role, I built the Disability Engagement & Accessibility department, a campaign first, and hired a team of Deaf and disabled people, including two staff American Sign Language interpreters. I wrote the Disability Rights policy platform with Stacey and traveled around the state to meet with disabled Georgians through the campaign. Though we did not win, we truly changed the game in politics, particularly when it comes to disability community outreach and policy.
Early in 2022, I founded New Disabled South, an advocacy, organizing, and policy organization dedicated to disability rights and disability justice in 14 Southern states. We are a first-of-its-kind organization, focusing on a regional strategy to achieve a vision of liberation and justice for disabled people in the South. I currently work full time as President & CEO and am actively working to grow the organization. In February 2023, myself and NDS’s Chief Operating Officer Kehsi Iman Wilson founded New Disabled South Rising, NDS’s 501(c)(4) arm. I also sit on the boards of The Kelsey, the Society for Disability Studies, Disability Victory, and University of Pennsylvania’s Nonprofit Leadership Alumni Association.
In 2023, The Tattooed Jew LLC has given me the opportunity to serve as Campaign Manager for Bianca Motley Broom’s 2023 re-election campaign for mayor of College Park, Georgia, and as a strategy consultant for progressive philanthropic organization Voqal.