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The first thing I would do is form a board to oversee the nonprofit organization. I would ask the most influential people I know to sit on that board. The more people they know the better. Include his pastor, local businessmen, a member of the red hat society,..
I would then build a team of people compassionate about honoring this young mans memory. I would have the team wear shirts with the name of the organization and a pic of the young man while canvassing the community he lived in. I would ask local businesses if I could leave flyers and collection containers. I would focus on places where there are people who know him or his family.
1. The alumni association where he went to school
2. The church/churches he and his family attended
3. Any clubs or associations he may have been part of
4. Any restaurants or hang outs he may have frequented
It's a lot of work but that's what it takes to get blood out of a turnip.

I appreciate what you are trying to do and I wish you the best of luck in raising funds, but I think (as shown by the lack of response on this forum) that you may need to take a little different approach in your fund raising. Your best bet for raising funds is going to be from people whose lives were touched by this gentleman, the local community in which he was known.

The reason is very simple, there is huge competition for charitable funds. I can sit here and list a dozen causes presented to me in the last couple of months that would draw tears from any grown man. I simply do not have enough disposable income to contribute to more than a few of these causes. Given my limitations I have to be extremely selective with my contributions. Absent specific direction from the almighty, my contributions are typically limited to those causes local to me that affect those who have had a direct impact on my life or my small community. I wish it were different and hopefully someday it will be, but for now that is reality.

Please don't take a lack of response on the forum as hardened hearts. I believe most people are not in a much different boat than myself.

Again, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor.