Photo: Courtesy of Shiree Skinner
Shiree Skinner is the director of regional development for the National Jewish Medical & Research Center. She worked in the New York office for six years before transferring to Washington last spring. Skinner plans 10 to 15 fund-raisers a year, ranging from large-scale galas to smaller golf outings and luncheons. She has been in the event planning industry for almost 17 years.
Gifts: “Clint Hart and his staff at Executive Suite go out of their way for us. He helps with events large and small, from New York and Washington, D.C., to Denver. He shops the annual gift show for us, keeps costs down, and even volunteers his time by distributing gift bags at our events. We use him for our dinner gift bags, awards, golf giveaways, and more. As a nonprofit, cost is essential, but we can’t skimp on quality because of it. Clint makes sure we can do that, and he spends as much time as is needed during the selection process.”
Printing: “Yes Press has saved my butt a few times. We are always waiting on our honoree, committee members, or trustees for logos and revisions to printed materials. Yes Press is so fast and efficient with their printing operation that I actually brought them with me, as my printer of choice, when I came to D.C. from New York. Even with [the shipping time to get from their offices in New Jersey to D.C.], their fast turnaround and awesome pricing beats most. Recently, they printed a job for us overnight—they stopped everything to get the job done for us when we called that afternoon, and it arrived next day, as promised.”Catering: “A great local company is Occasions Caterers. One of our meetings is held on the presidential yacht Sequoia, and catering on the yacht can be very tricky because it’s a small, narrow space and there are bad weather contingencies, but Occasions is awesome to work with. Again, with budgets being so important to us, they worked within our framework and took the time to tweak the menu and go over all the ‘what-if’ scenarios. [Occasions account executive] Matt Sipala was attentive and responsive, and their menu offers some unique hors d’oeuvres alongside the classics.”
Gifts: “Clint Hart and his staff at Executive Suite go out of their way for us. He helps with events large and small, from New York and Washington, D.C., to Denver. He shops the annual gift show for us, keeps costs down, and even volunteers his time by distributing gift bags at our events. We use him for our dinner gift bags, awards, golf giveaways, and more. As a nonprofit, cost is essential, but we can’t skimp on quality because of it. Clint makes sure we can do that, and he spends as much time as is needed during the selection process.”
Printing: “Yes Press has saved my butt a few times. We are always waiting on our honoree, committee members, or trustees for logos and revisions to printed materials. Yes Press is so fast and efficient with their printing operation that I actually brought them with me, as my printer of choice, when I came to D.C. from New York. Even with [the shipping time to get from their offices in New Jersey to D.C.], their fast turnaround and awesome pricing beats most. Recently, they printed a job for us overnight—they stopped everything to get the job done for us when we called that afternoon, and it arrived next day, as promised.”Catering: “A great local company is Occasions Caterers. One of our meetings is held on the presidential yacht Sequoia, and catering on the yacht can be very tricky because it’s a small, narrow space and there are bad weather contingencies, but Occasions is awesome to work with. Again, with budgets being so important to us, they worked within our framework and took the time to tweak the menu and go over all the ‘what-if’ scenarios. [Occasions account executive] Matt Sipala was attentive and responsive, and their menu offers some unique hors d’oeuvres alongside the classics.”
