"We exceeded our revenue goals. We raised more money last year than we ever have before, and positioned ourselves in a really solid place to reach our goals for 2023 as well. Having Jane's support helps me do that in a way that is much more sane and calm, which has a positive impact on our whole team."
— Caitlyn Brazill, Chief Development Officer
The Challenge
Per Scholas is a national nonprofit advancing economic mobility through tuition-free tech training, and Caitlyn Brazill, its Chief Development Officer, leads a team of 30 development staff responsible for fueling that mission. Under her leadership, the organization tripled revenues and raised more than $50M to support communities across the United States.
As Per Scholas scaled dramatically — growing from 75 staff members to more than 510 and expanding to 14 new U.S. cities in just four years — the demands on Caitlyn's time grew exponentially. Her team is chiefly responsible for working with managing directors in each market and national leadership to secure the resources that keep Per Scholas tuition-free.
When Per Scholas lost their full-time executive assistant, the need for reliable, high-quality administrative support became urgent. Fortunately, the departing assistant had previously worked with BELAY and was able to make a warm recommendation and facilitate a smooth handoff.
"She had worked for BELAY earlier in her career. She was able to facilitate a really smooth transition onboarding into BELAY because she understood how everything worked."
The Solution
BELAY matched Per Scholas with Virtual Assistant Jane McCowan, whose primary focus became managing scheduling and travel for both Caitlyn and the CEO. Jane quickly elevated the role well beyond basic calendar management.
"Jane has been able to really deepen what it means to be supporting our scheduling and travel. Jane will now look up the travel directions, figure out how long it's gonna take me to get from one place to another and make sure that time is sufficiently blocked on my calendar."
Jane introduced thoughtful systems like color-coded calendaring to help Caitlyn quickly identify high-priority external meetings with funders. She also proactively checks in on logistics — including airport security buffer times — to ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
Beyond scheduling, Jane supports Caitlyn on the back end by drafting follow-up notes after funder conversations and logging everything in Salesforce. As Caitlyn notes, "the connections of calendaring to really feeding the systems we use to manage our external facing relationships has been immensely helpful."
"Jane has been able to really deepen what it means to be supporting our scheduling and travel. Jane will now look up the travel directions, figure out how long it's gonna take me to get from one place to another and make sure that time is sufficiently blocked on my calendar."
— Caitlyn Brazill, Chief Development OfficerThe Impact
The results of the engagement have been both measurable and transformative. With Jane's consistent, proactive support, Caitlyn and her team raised $43 million in a single year — more than Per Scholas had ever raised before — exceeding revenue goals and positioning the organization for continued growth.
"We exceeded our revenue goals. We raised more money last year than we ever have before, and positioned ourselves in a really solid place to reach our goals for 2023 as well. Having Jane's support helps me do that in a way that is much more sane and calm, which has a positive impact on our whole team."
Caitlyn credits Jane's proactive communication style and genuine openness to feedback as the foundation of a highly effective working relationship. Jane's habit of asking clarifying questions upfront — especially during Salesforce onboarding — helped establish trust early in the engagement.
"Jane's been really, really good about asking questions and seeking clarification. I've been really clear on feedback and she accepts it excitedly. She's completely undefensive. She demonstrated that kind of reliability that I could count on really early."