Cracking the Fundraising Code

August 24, 2009, Crain's Chicago Business — Fundraising has been called an art and a science, but, most of all, it's a crapshoot.

John List is trying to change that.

Mr. List, 40, an economist at the University of Chicago and a bit of a rock star in fundraising circles, first did fundraising field studies 10 years ago while teaching at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. But his work is reaching new relevance in the recession, as non-profit organizations scramble to learn what makes people open their wallets.