Here are a couple of great nonprofit ideas I recently came across.

Kiva (www.kiva.org) is a web site that connects people in the U.S. wanting to make no-interest microloans with entrepreneurs from poor countries. The average loan is a few hundred bucks and the default rate is well below one quarter of one percent, so it’s a very efficient way to move capital around the globe, and get it back.

Kiva has put 19.5M in the hands of people who have been able to use it to start or grow a small business. So far more than 220,000 “lenders” have participated.

Here is one you just have to love.

A state prison in Nevada was dealing with the usual prison problems of gangs and violence. At the same time, the local Humane Society had a growing list of “unadoptable dogs” who, for a variety of temperament-oriented offenses, were themselves placed on Doggie Death Row. So the prison warden and the Humane Society director got together and identified eight inmates, all lifers, who would each adopt a doomed dog for a period of rehabilitation.

Inmates have nothing if not time on their hands, and wayward dogs can take lot of retraining, so it turned out to be a great arrangement.

The dogs became highly socialized and adoptable, when their time was up one inmate said they had gotten “puppy parole”, and a second set of dogs replaced them in the slammer. The unanticipated benefit of this program was a 40% drop off in violence at the prison. Even the vast majority of the 700 inmates who did not personally receive a pet benefitted, as everyone softened up and cuddled with the dogs.

Now there is prison reform.

Did you know that there are more choreographers in America (16,340) than there are microbiologists (15,730) or metal casters (14,880)?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s true.

In an article in the January 27, New York Times Magazine, Christopher Caldwell argues convincingly that presidential candidates should stop appearing on the factory floor for photo ops with lathe operators (65,840) and instead go to the casino floor to shake the far more numerous hands of blackjack dealers (82,960) or security guards (1,004,130).

What’s up?

As Caldwell sees it, the change from the old economy to the new is complete. We are no longer in a time of transition from the industrial age economy to the new economy: it has arrived. There is just not yet a political constituency that would appreciate seeing Mitt or Barack standing at the barre discussing the tough times that have hit the dance industry.

Or maybe there is.

By and large, choreographers work for nonprofit dance companies. And they are not alone. If we dig a little deeper we see growth in nonprofit jobs well beyond choreography.

Among the top tier of new jobs to be created in 2008-2009, the BLS predicts that Personal and Home Care Aides will be the second fastest growing area, at 50.6%, which is right behind the top job growth area: Network Administrator.

The third fastest growing occupation is Home Health Assistants at 48.7%.

Substance Abuse Counselor, slated to grow by 34.3%, comes in tenth, while Mental Health Counselor (30%) and Social Worker (29.9%) come in at nineteenth and twentieth, respectively.

So it’s pretty clear to me: nonprofit jobs are among those that are benefitting from the “new economy.”

It turns out you made the right choice, whether you are a social worker or a choreographer