Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans + CLA – A Story of Seamless Support

• January 11, 2022
• Kelsey Vatsaas

Written by Keven Truhler and Heidi Grinde

Throughout 2022, we will be sharing stories of a number of our incredible clients, and the journey CLA has taken alongside them to help them reach their goals. Up first is a long-time CLA client, the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV) that we have been so proud to work with over the past 15 years.

Background

MACV is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to end veteran homelessness in Minnesota. MACV is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, and has direct program staff throughout the state. The organization, established in 1990, serves veterans who are currently experiencing or at-risk of homelessness in communities throughout Minnesota. With about $10 million in annual revenue, the organization’s programs impact nearly 3,000 veterans each year.

CLA’s relationship with MACV dates back more than 15 years. Initially, CLA was MACV’s auditor, serviced under John Tauer, Managing Principal, Regulated Industries. Over time, John recognized that CLA’s greatest opportunity to help grow the organization was not necessarily through assurance services, but through all the other seamless services CLA could provide to MACV. John suggested our BizOps (outsourced business operations) services to support the organization’s finance department and functions.

In shifting from providing assurance services to providing BizOps services, CLA could better help MACV achieve its financial and organizational goals. CLA became integrated into the daily operations of the organization and helped bring a level of leadership and stability to MACV’s accounting and finance function — allowing the organization to focus its efforts on its mission and program services.

In the years since the transition to BizOps services, CLA has also provided MACV with HR consulting, management consulting (through a finance and operations-focused organizational assessment), Sage Intacct implementation services, and Form 990 preparation and tax services.

Adding Stability and Continuity Amidst Change

From 2015 – 2017, MACV experienced a period of executive leadership change that included the departures of a long-time CEO and the financial and operational leader of the organization. A period of interim executive leadership followed, until a permanent President and CEO was hired in 2017. During this time, CLA stepped up to play a significantly larger role in the financial leadership and accounting functions of the organization. This ability to quickly scale up the level of service played a critical role in stabilizing the organization’s core administrative functions during a challenging time in the lifecycle of the organization. Heidi Grinde served as a consulting CFO and several staff provided a range of services from the staff accountant to the controller level of daily operations, tax services, HR services and more.  

While serving in a financial leadership capacity, CLA began sharing more accountability for the organization’s goals. As a result of more in-depth discussions with MACV’s executive team, board, and key personnel, a stronger relationship was forged. Working onsite, Heidi and the other CLA team members could see, hear, and identify for themselves additional needs of the organization and opportunities to build strength and capacity.

In 2017, MACV hired a permanent President and CEO who continues to lead the organization today. Almost immediately following that hire, CLA’s nonprofit consulting team — in coordination with the BizOps team — conducted an organizational assessment to help establish a plan and recommendations for building long-term strength and capacity in areas of leadership and structure, finance, operations, processes, and technology. This effort involved conversations with key leaders and staff and resulted in actionable strategies that reflected the organization’s needs and opportunities. Themes included:

• Building an executive team to lead and advance core function areas of programs and operations, finance, and development.
• Implementing a comprehensive database and information management system and strategy focused on transitioning client service records and processes from paper-based to technology-based.
• Refining processes related to key functions and approval workflows through distribution of responsibility and leadership from centralized control to regional leadership.

In recognition of the structure and approaches determined to be most effective for the organization, CLA suggested MACV hire key accounting and finance positions internally and significantly reduce CLA’s BizOps role. During the transition period, CLA continued to serve in significant and expanding ways and was engrained as a core part of the team. In the years since, MACV implemented recommendations from CLA and continues to build on the finance function that CLA played a critical role in establishing. 

Though MACV hired a full-time CFO in 2018 and has steadily built internal capacity in its finance and accounting function, CLA continues to play a critical BizOps consulting controller role for the organization. Current services focus on areas such as government grants management, monthly close processes, audit preparation, financial process improvement, and various other areas requiring accounting expertise. A significant factor in MACV’s increased efficiency of its finance and accounting function was the implementation of Sage Intacct in 2019. MACV’s Intacct implementation and the accompanying significant changes and simplification of its general ledger structure and accounting processes were guided and shaped by CLA’s Intacct implementation team.

Results and Impact

CLA team members continue to deliver client services essential to MACV’s growth and success. In the five years since the period of leadership transition during which CLA’s services were most extensive, MACV has undergone significant organizational development. 

MACV has grown from a $6 million budget in 2017 to a more than $10 million budget in 2021, driven by increases in both government funds and philanthropic support. During this period, MACV continued to build financial health and strength through steady growth of cash reserves and investments. Construction of more than 30 units of housing — in conjunction with a home builder, philanthropic partners, and major improvements in existing housing facilities — improved the number and quality of MACV’s assets and housing services.   

Implementation of technology systems and processes effectively converted all paper-based records and processes to online systems. CLA recommended:

• Sage Intacct for accounting
• Salesforce implementation for all programming and case management, donor management, property management, etc.
• Expensify for expense reporting

MACV underwent this growth all while reducing the cost of its finance function and the percentage of overall administrative expense. The investment in organizational capacity gave MACV the capabilities and efficiency to dedicate more resources to client services — while also increasing effectiveness of administrative functions and operations. CLA has been part of this journey every step of the way.

MACV’s impact is a great example of success against veteran homelessness in Minnesota. In the last 10 years, veteran homelessness decreased by 56%. MACV services have recently resulted in:

• 2,795 veterans and their families engaging with MACV services in 2020 alone.
• Over $3 million in annual direct financial assistance distributed to benefit households in crisis.
• 421 veteran households receiving emergency housing in hotels and supportive services during the pandemic, culminating in over 34,000 total room nights of emergency shelter.
• 85 units of transitional housing where veterans can live for up to two years while they overcome barriers to finding long-term housing. High-barrier veterans who need ongoing support services can access 59 units of permanent supportive housing and live as independently as possible.
• 151 veterans finding employment at an average hourly wage of $17.29, representing annual gross wages of approximately $4,530,000. 87% of veterans who got jobs through MACV’s program kept their position for at least six months.
• Nearly 100 placements of homeless veterans with high barriers to open-market housing (i.e., income, eviction history, criminal record, etc.) placed through landlord engagement efforts.
• The addition of new program services — including healthcare navigation, landlord engagement, justice involved services, street outreach, and more —targeting those with the greatest barriers to long-term housing stability.
• Minnesota Department of Veterans’ Affairs recognizing MACV staff as Community Partner of the Year.

In Their Words – Feedback from MACV Leadership

“Among our greatest appreciations for CLA is their ability to scale up and down the level and type of services based on our organization’s needs and circumstances at any given point in time. There have been times throughout the years of our relationship where CLA has provided full financial leadership and the majority of finance and accounting function staff capacity for the organization, HR services, consulting services, and more. We are currently operating in a state in which CLA’s services are smaller in scale and targeted at specific areas of accounting needs and expertise that add the greatest value and efficiency to MACV. We know that as our needs continue to evolve in the future, our partnership with CLA can and will evolve accordingly. 

Time and time again, CLA has demonstrated a genuine interest and effort in advancing MACV’s best interest — at times in ways that significantly reduced their own role to help us achieve the long-term progress internally desired. Their interest in their clients’ goals above all has established a level of trust that has been foundational to our long-standing and continuing relationship.”

-Brian Peterson, MACV Chief Financial Officer

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