IN THIS ISSUE: *
NORTH STATE HULLING: SUMMER SNAPSHOTS Check out what our team members and their families were up to over summer.
TO DIY OR NOT TO DIY? THAT IS THE QUESTION Founder Brent Morrison ponders when an organization might need outside help, and when it doesn’t.
DEBUNKING GRANT MYTHS Morrison Principal Toni Scott tackles the common misconceptions that often keep for-profit organizations and other potential applicants from applying for grants.
CLIENT CORNER There is always something new going on, so get caught up with our latest industry news.
WWW.MORRISONCO.NET
THE RIGHT FIT FOR A NEW ERA Working towards a common goal is the essence of a cooperatively-formed business and for more than 50 years North State Hulling has been doing just that, providing a reliable and integral service to its farmerowners. Formed in 1968 to provide almond hulling and shelling services to Northern California almond farmers, North State Hulling was borne out of the need for a dependable and affordable provider that could undertake the initial processing necessary to bring almonds to market — something that would be too costly for farmers to do on their own. Almonds grow with a dry and fuzzy hull around them, similar to the fleshy portion of a peach. As almonds ripen, the hulls split open but remain attached even after harvest. Hulling is a process of removing that outer part, which can then be used for cattle feed.
almonds, while also increasing its capacity to serve the growing North State almond acreage that will need increased hulling and shelling capacity. The new site also allows for innovation, opening the opportunity for the cooperative to explore potential biomass energy generation and providing the flexibility for expansion into other business opportunities.
Current Facility
The almonds we eat — the kernels — rest inside a shell. This shell also needs to be removed through a process that ensures consumers receive the highest quality almonds in their homes. Similar to hulls, almond shells can be re-purposed for other uses, including livestock bedding. With a vision to serve its member-owners for at least another five decades, North State Hulling recently broke ground on a new state-of-the-art processing facility to hull and shell almonds, having outgrown its existing location. The new facility will allow the cooperative to continue to process its members’ current
Planned Facility This new vision is being stewarded through North State Hulling’s General Manager, who Morrison was honored to place with the cooperative. With their previous General Manager seeking to retire, North State’s
CONTINUED ON INSIDE LEFT PANEL
NEWSLETTER | FALL 2019
C OV E R STORY, CO N TINUED Board of Directors enlisted Morrison to help the group recruit someone who could take the helm at their company. Morrison’s relationships with the individual board members and strong experience in food and beverage processing was leveraged by our People Solution’s Executive Recruiting team to find the best fit for the organization. The General Manager has now been with the company for two years and is helping the board and company to continue their strong legacy that was started five decades ago. We are looking forward to celebrating with North State Hulling when their new facility is up and running in 2020!
Planned Facility aerial overview
Construction in progress
Construction in progress
SUMMER
SNAPSH TS FROM CALIFORNIA TO EUROPE, oceans to mountains, our team has been adventuring with the best of them this summer.
prepared to move home to
Brent Morrison and family toured Janae Swartz and her husband Corey camped the Johnson Space Center in
Paradise.
Houston.
in Copper Basin, ID.
Shawn Miller spent time
Toni Scott and her husband Nick
Dean Pritchett and his
with his Grandson Cam,
saw Hamilton with friends while
wife Meadow cooled off
visiting from the Midwest.
traveling through the UK.
with the kids.
Geoff Chinnock and family
Amanda Bullock and her family built memories in LegoLand.
Michelle Genova and Janae Swartz hiked and
*Pictured on the front, Hilary Tricerri and her husband Jovanni enjoyed cooler weather
wine tasted through Solvang with friends.
with their sons in Santa Cruz.
To DIY or not to DIY? That is the question I am a do-it-yourselfer, within limits. I’ll take on a leaky faucet but leave the HVAC to the pros — and I might call a plumber for the faucet if I don’t have time. It’s the same in business. The business equivalent of a dripping faucet can wait or be handled internally, while an organizational attic fire might warrant a call to 911. A few things to consider in weighing the right approach: PRIORITY: Ask “Is this necessary or helpful? What if we put it off? Will it divert time and resources from greater needs?” Priorities are not always clear-cut, and you won’t often have the luxury of handling things one at a time. Your team may or may not be able to handle all needs at once; a deliberate consideration of urgency and priorities is in order. INTERNAL CAPABILITIES: You won’t always have all the internal tools or expertise but it’s a trap to think you must have all the necessary resources before you start a project. If you have 80% you may be able to figure out the rest, but some things are too big of a stretch and you’ll need options. Outsourcing can help, but keep reading. . . TIME: We all have the same amount of time every day but it’s the world’s most perishable inventory. Morrison works in many situations where clients have the ability, just not the time. Some things have to get done and outsourcing can be an option, but. . . THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT: California’s Assembly Bill 5, signed into law September 18, codifies the 2018 California Supreme Court’s Dynamex decision imposing tough requirements for contracting with individuals. The law excludes certain “licensed” professions like accounting, but questions remain. If an accountant performs less traditional services such as business plans or advisory roles, is it still exempt “accounting”? Time and case law will tell. Engagements with independent consultancies and companies organized as separate legal entities with their own employees, however, are exempt from AB 5. COST: Cost is important, including opportunity cost. Nothing’s free — including the cost of doing nothing. Count the cost of attacking a challenge internally, outsourcing, or doing nothing. Most folks with a few years behind them can look back at as many expenditures of time or money they wish they had made as those they wish they hadn’t. Following are ways Morrison has helped when critical factors pointed to outside help:
ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS OF CALIFORNIA Associated General Contractors of California (AGC), headquartered in West Sacramento, is the premier organization serving California’s construction industry, with over 1,000 members. Members receive top-tier legislative access, advocacy, industry education, and career development services. AGC welcomed its first new CEO in over 30 years in 2018, followed by the retirement of their CFO of over 20 years. These changes and the Board’s vision called for a new leadership culture, resulting in the addition of an innovative and forward thinking CEO and a likeminded Vice President of Operations & Finance. New leadership determined that needed accounting and financial management changes would require outside expertise; Morrison was engaged to develop a work plan followed by revised accounting policies and procedures, internal controls, and financial reporting geared to assist the Board and management with planning and analysis. The engagement, served primarily by Morrison’s Sacramento location, was expanded to include rewriting the controller job description and assist with the hire of a new controller, managing cash flow, researching contract administration trusts, and creating new budget templates for the updated reporting structure. The result is a new era of financial accounting and reporting that serves the contemporary needs of the Association.
TAYLOR BROTHERS FARMS Taylor Brothers Farms (TBF) is the world’s largest producer, processor, and marketer of organic prunes and prune products, and a leading processor and distributor of conventional prune products with processing facilities and sales offices in the U.S., Poland, and South Korea. From its roots in farming (going back to 1916), Taylor Brothers had grown to an international vertically integrated company comprised of agricultural production, processing, marketing, and distribution activities, handling its own commodities and those of other quality California growers. Managing and monitoring the global organization became increasingly challenging, and the company sought help in assessing and overseeing its growing operations. Morrison’s role with Taylor Brothers has taken many forms since 2008, including time spent at their facilities in Poland and Korea. Today Morrison provides financial and business segment analysis including assessing financial reporting from all entities; interface with lenders and key third parties; ad-hoc analyses, and; presenting findings, options, and recommendations. In the past, Morrison assumed the controller role during a vacancy, recruited and onboarded a replacement controller, and filled other key roles.
LONG VALLEY HEALTH CENTER Long Valley Health Center (LVHC) is a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center in rural Laytonville, California. Offering primary medical, dental, mental health, and other services, LVHC is a recipient of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources & Services Administration’s Quality Improvement Award. Though LVHC needs oversight of its accounting and finance functions, analysis and presentation of financial statements to the Board, oversight of the annual audit, and other CFO level functions, they did not feel these duties required a full-time position. The location (over 100 miles from a city of 100,000 or more) made recruiting difficult, and nearly impossible for a part-time person. Morrison was engaged to fill the part-time CFO role in 2014, refining its services to meet LVHC’s evolving needs, including strategic planning and human resources. While Morrison is onsite as needed, technologies to connect to LVHC’s office are also utilized. Morrison has experienced normal staff turnover in its years of service to LVHC, quickly stepping in with other experienced Morrison consultants to avoid disruptions. Today, LVHC enjoys CFO level reporting and analysis, oversight and support for its accounting and finance functions, and collaboration with other key providers without requiring a fulltime CFO.
SIERRA GOLD NURSERIES Sierra Gold Nurseries (SGN) is a family owned commercial fruit and nut tree nursery, serving orchardists throughout the western United States since 1951. The company offers a wide variety of fruit and nut trees for growers with options for both rootstocks and scions (the producing top half). Its production process is vertically integrated, including a state-of-the-art tissue culture lab. In 2015, SGN unexpectedly lost their contracted Chief Financial Officer during a period of significant expansion. A few years later, turnover occurred again with an ERP software conversion planned and scheduled. A CFO was not only needed quickly, it was an opportune time to re-envision the role. Morrison, referred by both SGN’s bank and CPA firm, stepped into the CFO and controller functions while working to restructure the company’s accounting and finance operations. Eventually, Morrison onboarded a full-time controller while continuing to manage core CFO functions including the annual budget, lending relationships, and regular interface with key stakeholders. Today, SGN has a robust internal accounting and finance function while Morrison provides defined CFO level duties and additional support as needed. Normal staff turnover at Morrison has been addressed seamlessly, preventing the turmoil previously experienced from unexpected departures.
GORRILL RANCH Gorrill Ranch is a fourth generation farming operation in northern California. The ranch was founded in 1918 by Ralph Gorrill, who purchased a sizable contiguous portion of the Stanford Durham Ranch for rice acreage and leveraged his engineering background to design a gravity-fed water delivery system that is in use to this day. The ranch’s second generation (Ralph’s three daughters) diversified into orchard crops including prunes and almonds (marketed through Morrison clients Sunsweet Growers and Blue Diamond Almonds), walnuts and pecans. The ranch has also periodically increased its rice acreage through the years. Gorrill’s routine needs did not require a full-time CFO or controller, but they found it difficult to retain qualified part-time professional assistance with Board reporting, preparation and analysis of cash flow projections, budgeting, year-end close, and other critical processes. Morrison has been engaged to fill those needs since 2012, along with analyzing new business opportunities and other assistance as needed. The result has been steady and uninterrupted accounting and finance services that have played a role in the Ranch’s success as they enter their second century.
Founder and Principal Brent Morrison oversees Morrison’s Business and Accounting Advisory services, and serves as Managing Principal. You can contact Brent at bmorrison@morrisonco.net or (530) 809-4669.
DEBUNKING
GRANT MYTHS
Like Sasquatch, mermaids, or the Loch Ness Monster, grants seem to be a mythical enigma for many organizations. Opinions range from grant opportunities either sounding too good to be true or seeming on the same level as the fountain of youth — a wellspring that solves all problems. In actuality, grant funding is somewhere in between. Here at Morrison, we’ve talked through a number of grant myths with clients, and with millions of dollars in successful grant applications under our belt we consider it an honor to serve as myth busters for the for trade groups, governmental organizations, and for-profit companies we work with in our grants business. If you find yourself wondering if there really is that pot of gold of a grant program behind the rainbow, check out some of the regular myths we bring clarity to!
MYTH: GRANTS ARE ONLY FOR NONPROFITS, CHARITIES, AND ACADEMIA. There are plenty of those, and for worthy causes. But nonprofits and universities don’t have a monopoly on worthy causes. There are a wealth of grant opportunities available to assist for-profit companies and associations serving for-profit businesses in their worthy endeavors as well. We’ve written successful proposals to buy new equipment to improve energy efficiency, to cover the slotting fees for the launch of new products that will bring increased jobs, to create marketing materials for a promotional campaign encouraging healthy eating, and even to bring in a world-renowned speaker to an organization’s annual meeting.
MYTH: A GRANT PROPOSAL IS JUST ANSWERING A FEW QUESTIONS, SIGNING A FEW FORMS, AND CHECKING BOXES, RIGHT? There are indeed boxes to check and forms to sign, but a compelling story that meets the goals of the particular grant program is the key to success. Additionally, many of the grant programs we work with require a financial analysis to prove a worthy investment of grant funds. The unique backgrounds of our Morrison team — which includes a number of CPAs — allows us to accomplish this and convey a story of measurable success, but the process is much more involved than just a few checked boxes.
MYTH: GRANTS CAN LET US CONTINUE BUSINESS AS USUAL, AND WILL HELP US JUST PAY OUR REGULAR BILLS. Grant programs have specific goals, and they are never just to keep the lights on. But grants will help you to improve business as usual! You’ll rarely find funding to pay your electricity bill, but we can help you spend less of your own money on new endeavors to better free up funds to cover business as usual.
MYTH: FREE MONEY! LET’S APPLY FOR THEM ALL! Grant programs don’t have to be an exact fit, but going after every grant opportunity without a solid strategy could commit you to executing projects that aren’t a priority or that don’t make good business sense. A successful grant funded program still takes time, effort, and likely some of your own funds. Choose wisely.
MYTH: THERE MUST BE STRINGS ATTACHED. OK, this one is true. Grant programs have reporting and recordkeeping requirements, and there are timeframes and deadlines. Some may require audits, and some require or give preference to some level of matching funds. Requirements for federal and state programs are readily available, and we work with applicants to know those strings before they apply for an opportunity, and can manage the administrative process after they are awarded grant funds.
MYTH: I JUST NEED TO FIND SOMEONE WHO WAS AN ENGLISH MAJOR TO HELP ME AND MY GRANT APPLICATION WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. We love English majors here! But knowing the value of the Oxford Comma isn’t enough. Our grant writers are more than just good writers — in our lives outside of Morrison, we sit on boards ourselves and review and approve multi-million dollar budgets. We stay up to date on everything from the price of steel to the consumption rates of California wine (we’d be great Jeopardy contestants). We know how the world outside the grant realm works. And we know you have to tell a compelling story. We also serve as independent reviewers on grant programs and use the insights gained to strengthen our grant proposals.
SO NOW HOW DO I FIND THAT UNICORN THAT WILL WORK FOR MY ORGANIZATION? The most prudent way for an organization to pursue grant funding is to develop a grant strategy. We can work with you to identify your needs, match those needs to specific grant programs, determine your capacity to apply for and manage potential opportunities, and discuss the deal-breakers for you and your leadership that would keep you from pursuing certain grant options. In the meantime, check out our grants blog (http://www.morrisonco. net/blog/search/category/grants) or contact us to be placed on our monthly grants newsletter list (email grants@morrisonco.net). We sift through hundreds of grant opportunities in a given month and share those that are most relevant to our client base. Also feel free to give us a call directly to chat about grants—the opportunities are real!
Morrison Principal Toni Scott provides services to Morrison clients primarily in the areas of competitive grant writing, strategic grant planning, and grant administration. You can contact Toni at tscott@morrisonco.net.
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE
PAID
10 Landing Circle, Suite 5 Chico, California 95973
SACRAMENTO, CA
PERMIT #1890
PHONE: 530.893.4764 • FAX: 530.893.4978
BUSINESS & ACCOUNTING ADVISORY PEOPLE SOLUTIONS • RECRUITMENT • GR ANTS FOLLOW US
C L I E N T CORNER The Morrison Client Corner is a regular feature of our newsletter.
If you’re a client of ours, we’d love to stay up to date with what is going
Here, you’ll find updates on what a number of our clients are up to,
on within your organization and invite you to share your highlights
their achievements and milestones, and the generally great things
in this space. Feel free to send any press releases, newsletters, or
happening in their companies or organizations.
happenings to Michelle at mgenova@morrisonco.net.
SONOMA COUNTY WINEGROWERS has recently announced they have become the first winegrowing region ever to have 99% of their members certified sustainable. The organization, representing all 1,800 winegrape growers in Sonoma County, set a goal in 2014 to have 100% of their members certified sustainable, and have essentially achieved this in just five years!
The 4th annual Harvest
Want to know more about sustainable Sonoma wines? Check out the Augmented Reality enhanced labels on some of your favorite Sonoma wines, including wines from Ferrari-Carano, Dutton Estate, Francis Ford Coppola, Cline, Dutton-Goldfield and Lynmar. Using a smart phone, download the Sonoma County Sustainable Wine augmented reality app from Google Play or the Apple App Store. From there, simply place your phone over a participating wine label programmed with augmented reality and the label comes to life immediately with stories, video, and information.
Butter. The celebration will feature a variety of local vendors,
Brent Morrison (pictured with lead engineer Brian Fredenberg) had a chance to see the latest emergency response solution from ® RESCUE 42. The SatRunner mobile command platform provides secure data, incident management, and communication for use in wide scale emergencies including hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and any disaster that impedes communications for emergency responders.
WWW.MORRISONCO.NET
Celebration is coming up at SOHNREY FAMILY FOODS, a grower, processor, and marketer of a wide variety of candies, almonds, and other products — including the Morrison team favorite Snickerdoodle
Almond
tours, tastings, farm animals, games, and of course almonds. The family friendly event will take place Saturday, November 9, from 11am to 4pm at their location just off Highway 99 at 41 Skillin Lane, Oroville, CA. And if like us, you love to learn more about the fabulous farmers behind the mouthwatering almond products, check out this great video about the Sohnreys here: https://youtu.be/RQ41Dkn52Tw
In honor of the first responders who valiantly served Butte County in the wake of the Camp Fire, FARMERS BREWING CO brewed a special “Bravo Brew” for a special event honoring these individuals. The brew is a Vienna style lager with bravo hops and Farmers Brewing Co’s estate grown rice. The Farmers Brewing Co team is pictured here with Sheriff Kory Honea.
NEWSLETTER | FALL 2019