""I just didn't realize how much time the small tasks were taking up of my day that I thought, 'Oh, well it's not a big deal for me to do. This only takes me 10 minutes.' But when you have 20 of those a day, it adds up.""
— Allison Madrigal, Founder & Executive Director
The Challenge
When Allison Madrigal founded Rescue America — a nonprofit dedicated to the immediate rescue and stabilization of sex trafficking victims — she built the organization from the ground up over five years with a lean team of just six employees. But as Rescue America expanded from a single flagship location to a nationwide model, growth came fast: staff nearly tripled in just nine months.
That rapid expansion brought Allison to a crossroads. As the organization's leader, she needed to be more visionary — focused on strategy, donor relationships, and scaling the Rescue America model across the country. Instead, she found herself consumed by the administrative demands of a growing organization: donor development, HR onboarding, payroll, scheduling, and a relentless flood of emails.
Despite having never worked with a virtual assistant before, Allison recognized that something had to change. She could no longer afford to spend her days on tasks that, while necessary, pulled her away from the mission-critical work only she could do. As she put it,
"I just didn't realize how much time the small tasks were taking up of my day that I thought, 'Oh, well it's not a big deal for me to do. This only takes me 10 minutes.' But when you have 20 of those a day, it adds up."
The Solution
Allison took a leap of faith and turned to BELAY — and BELAY matched her with Virtual Assistant Katie Carroll. For Allison, finding the right fit was paramount: she needed someone equipped and trained to step into a complex role at a high level, without a long ramp-up period. Katie delivered from day one.
Katie quickly took ownership of Allison's calendaring, scheduling, and appointments, freeing her from the constant back-and-forth of coordination. She also assumed full responsibility for HR employee onboarding and offboarding processes, payroll, expense reports, and receipt coding — ensuring all of Rescue America's systems stayed current and accurate.
Beyond those core responsibilities, Katie also manages Allison's growing network by inputting donors and strategic partners into Salesforce, and handles a wide range of administrative applications including tax exemptions, address changes, and insurance forms. The breadth of support allowed Allison to confidently hand off the operational weight of a scaling nonprofit to a trusted partner.
"It's just taken off a lot of the things you think only you can do off my plate so I can focus on the big visionary projects as well as things that I need to pour into."
""Katie and I hit it off right away, so [she] took a huge weight off of me. And it's been very, very smooth sailing.""
— Allison Madrigal, Founder & Executive DirectorThe Impact
The results for Allison have been immediate and profound. Perhaps the most telling sign of her reclaimed bandwidth: her inbox.
"Huge news: I got down to three emails yesterday. I cannot remember that I've [ever] been down to three emails!"For a nonprofit leader managing a nationwide expansion, that level of clarity is no small feat.
But the impact stretches well beyond email management. With Katie handling the administrative infrastructure of Rescue America, Allison has been able to redirect her energy toward the visionary leadership her organization needs during this critical growth phase — strengthening donor relationships, overseeing the replication of the Rescue America model across the U.S., and focusing on the work that only she can do.
The personal connection between Allison and Katie has made the partnership especially effective.
"Katie and I hit it off right away, so [she] took a huge weight off of me. And it's been very, very smooth sailing."For an organization that exists to serve some of the most vulnerable people in the country, having the right support structure in place isn't just a productivity win — it's mission-critical.