D.C. Real Estate Games Kicks Off Fundraising For 30th Year With Ambitious, $1M Goal
The D.C. commercial real estate community comes together each year to raise money for Type 1 Diabetes research at the JDRF Real Estate Games, and this year it is looking to run laps around its past fundraising totals.
The organizing team has set a goal of raising $1M for the 30th annual games next summer. That would nearly double the record it set this year of $528K, which surpassed last year's record of $525K.
To kick off that ambitious fundraising effort, the organizers of the games brought together dozens of top D.C. real estate executives Monday evening. The event on the rooftop of 555 12th St. NW featured cocktails and appetizers, and the event's longtime leaders reminisced about the past 30 years of holding the Olympics-style tournament of athletic contests.
Savills Studley Executive Managing Director Adam Singer, the founder of the games and a member of JDRF International's board, said the annual event has raised $9M total over the last 30 years. Singer, who has Type 1 Diabetes, said the research JDRF has done has added years to his life.
Cushman & Wakefield Executive Managing Director Sherry Cushman, who chaired the games for 20 years starting in 1994, said she would not be in commercial real estate today if it were not for Singer, JDRF and the connections she made through her early involvement in the games.
Next year's event, tentatively scheduled for June 6, will be co-chaired by Grosvenor's Zac Linsky, Cushman & Wakefield's Kaleigh Jones and Stream Realty's Charlie Smiroldo. Singer and Cushman, who serve as permanent Executive Committee members, will be this year's honorary chairs. Savills Studley's Sarah Dreyer chaired the games for the last three years.
Singer has begun to expand the event beyond D.C. New York held its third Real Estate Games this year, and Chicago held its first. He said he is targeting Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, Toronto and London for expansion in the next two years.
"My goal is 50 years of games," Singer said. "Or a cure, whatever comes first."
