What, exactly, is a “SEGUE”?
SEGUE stands for Sustainable Enhancement Grant. It is a philanthropic grant-making methodology that makes it possible to use traditional capital campaign techniques to underwrite nonprofit business plans. Every year, traditional capital campaigns are used to raise billions of dollars for nonprofit endowments and buildings. In large part, their success lies in the clear connection that can be made between the money raised, and the permanent thing it pays for. Endowments essentially last for ever – it is clear that the money has not been squandered. Likewise, a building is a tangible and permanent thing with clear and enduring value. The SEGUE methodology makes it easier to see how the successful execution of a nonprofit business plan also leads to a permanent thing of clear and enduring value: a strong, dependable mission-driven institution that improves people’s lives, year in and year out. For example, suppose a nonprofit has a high-quality plan to double the number of children it ser
