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    But as he visited those schools, he realized his heart was somewhere else: in two Iowa City non-profits he helped found — The 10,000 Hours Show, which gives 1,000 volunteers a concert ticket for 10 hours of community service; and The James Gang, a community-building organization.

    ‘‘The only thing I really wanted to be doing with my time was working on The 10,000 Hours Show,’’ said Brooks, 24, of Iowa City, who will live the next 12 months off a $9,500 AmeriCorps stipend while working on 10K. ‘‘I always wanted to do something I loved that had a positive effect on the community.’’

    More young adults like Brooks are seemingly considering the non-profit sector as a career. Fueling the trend is a desire to help others, more awareness of non-profits and a need for professionals to run the organizations.

    ‘‘Non-profits are fighting for limited amounts of money,’’ said Krishna Das of Iowa City, coordinator of the Iowa State University Extension Service’s Nonprofit Management Academy. ‘‘To do that, you need qualified professionals to market the organization. If you have somebody who has come up through the ranks, he or she might not have the training to push the organization forward.’’

    Evidence of the interest in non-profit work lies in the fact that all three state universities now offer courses geared specifically toward the sector. Courses cover topics like fundraising, money management, strategic plans, mission statements, marketing and communication.

    At the University of Iowa, a two-semester course called non-profit organizational effectiveness attracts 150 students, compared to 30 when it began a decade ago.

    Iowa State’s Nonprofit Management Academy got a trial run in Des Moines in 1999 and has expanded to 12 counties.

    And this fall, the University of Northern Iowa launched a graduate program in philanthropy and non-profit development. Seventeen students enrolled; about 30 are waiting for the next session to begin. Numbers are also up in UNI’s American Humanics program, through which undergraduates earn certificates in non-profit management.

    ‘‘If there wasn’t a need, the universities would not be doing this,’’ Das said. ‘‘It’s a sector that’s going to continue growing with all of these budget cuts. Because of the economic situation, government funding has been reduced’’ and non-profits are picking up the slack.

    The number of non-profits is increasing. In Iowa, the number of charitable organizations with incomes of $25,000 or more grew from 2,128 in 1992 to 3,459 in 2002, according to the Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center.

    And there seems to be no shortage of people willing to work at non-profits.

    A 2003 survey by The Brookings Institution and the New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service asked 1,002 college seniors whether they had considered a career in public service. Sixty-two percent said they had given it very serious or some thought; of that group, 42 percent said they would prefer to work for a non-profit.

    The survey also found that college seniors cared more about meaningful work than about high salaries.

    ‘‘The set of young people in college now are very serviceoriented,’’ said Stacy Van Gorp, who directs UNI’s American Humanics program and advises the new graduate program. ‘‘Reports say that this generation will have already volunteered more in their life than any previous generation, and they’re more aware of non-profits because they’ve been volunteering.’’

    Sasha Richardson, 25, of Mount Vernon, said non-profit work was viewed as honorable by her peers at Cornell College in Mount Vernon. Richardson now works as housing coordinator at a nonprofit, MidAmerica Housing Partnership.

    ‘‘What it comes down to is that this type of work is simply needed. Somebody has to do it,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s clear that you’re helping people when you do stuff like this.’’

    Many UI students are introduced to non-profits through internships, and the UI hosts a career fair to match job seekers and employers with similar values. This year, 16 non-profits came. The Larned A. Waterman Iowa Nonprofit Resource Center, founded at the UI five years ago to strengthen non-profits, has also raised the sector’s profile.

    While young people do seem more interested in working for non-profits, they shouldn’t get the impression that paid positions at nonprofits are easy to come by, said UI law professor and president emeritus Willard ‘‘Sandy’’ Boyd, who founded the Nonprofit Resource Center with Jack Evans, president of the Hall-Perrine Foundation in Cedar Rapids.

    ‘‘There are very few,’’ said Boyd, noting that about 80 percent of Iowa non-profits have revenues of less than $100,000 per year.

    He advises those who can’t find jobs at non-profits to work in other sectors and volunteer until one comes up.

    ‘‘That’s the root of access for most people,’’ he said.

    Boyd said people should be aware that working for nonprofits typically means low pay and few benefits.

    ‘‘But psychologically, it is enormously rewarding,’’ he said. ‘‘We can’t underestimate the importance of psychological income.’’