Sarah Middleton is not knowingly related to Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, who one day may be Queen of England.
She gets asked “all the time!” if she’s related to the duchess—“my husband’s family is from England, so perhaps there’s a small, slight chance”—but she’s making her mark more as a consultant to companies and charities on community engagement in Orange County.
Her husband, Tim, isn’t in line for a throne, as chief investment officer at multifamily owner Steadfast Cos. in Irvine. The couple have a daughter, Taylor, 8, and a son, Wyatt, 6.
Sarah spent 11 years at Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, leading PIMCO Foundation and, as senior vice president, heading the bond trading giant’s global citizenship work including community involvement, connecting employees and the company with charities, and diversity—“of experience and ideas,” she has said.
Mission Control
The work meant employees “who want to get involved [or asking] ‘hey, can you consider this nonprofit, I have this idea,’ and working with charities worldwide.
She left last year to launch Costa Mesa-based Mission Up doing much the same thing.
“I work with companies developing a community engagement strategy [and] nonprofits on marketing message.”
The first involves companies that want to serve, but aren’t sure how to start.
She gets “to know them, understand their business … where they want to” commit, then can “craft the platform and timeline, suggest partners” down to action items: events, board service, how many hours, how much money.
The work can strengthen “recruitment, development, retention.”
On Message
On the charitable side, she simplifies and crystalizes “a bold statement, with meaning” for nonprofits, which often have the opposite problem of firms not knowing where to begin—not knowing where to stop.
“The copy just tumbles out from pens and laptops” at these groups, she said. “They love what they do—it’s a matter of saying it more thoughtfully.”
Passion and a specialized vocabulary can get in the way of a good story. As others have found (see story, page 2) the issue becomes one of connecting a charity’s story to companies that want to be part of it.
She aims to distill and translate a group’s goals and “define themselves crisp and clear.”
“It doesn’t have to be wordy or use [jargon],” she said. “If more organizations said less, we’d be better off.”
Clients include Global Food Banking Network in Chicago, which helps foreign charities “build and scale food banks” with technical assistance, training, and certification.
Counting Crowds
A local effort is for nonprofit incubator Charitable Ventures, which has a short-term contract to oversee 200 groups working on the 2020 Census. Mission Up is a liaison among the groups.
“Partnership coordination,” Middleton said, “to educate and motivate, and making sure we don’t duplicate efforts.”
Undercounting cuts future federal funding for programs, increasing burdens on nonprofits and their donors, Middleton said. California allocated no count funding in 2010, but “carved out more than $100 million” this time.
Charitable Ventures received a $1.4 million contract from the state; Mission Up works for them.
“Our goal is to reach 160,000 people,” via the coalition, said Mary Ann Foo, executive director of Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance.
“We’re all taking a specific population or age group, mapping out where to go, working with cities and counties on strategy,” Foo said.
Garden Grove-based OCAPICA is 22 years old with more than 100 paid staff and a $12 million budget.
All Day Long
The census today involves little knocking on doors with clipboards. Foo’s people will fan out to grocery stores, churches, parks and schools, and as the first census with a digital component, there’s social media, too.
“I had no idea how big a deal this was,” Middleton said. “It’s fascinating work.”
Such things helped drive her decision to leave Newport Center.
“Absolutely incredible experience, I got to work with the most phenomenal people,” she said, but “I had two young kids at home and knew there were other things I wanted to do.”
It’s been a year-long learn-and-grow curve winding into undiscovered countries, including her own neighborhood.
“It’s scary leaving something known for the unknown,” she said. “Every single day I feel uncomfortable and it’s hard and I love it.”
