To survive in Maine, nonprofit organizations must be well-managed, develop diverse income sources and maintain a sharp focus on their respective missions, said Scott Schnapp, executive director of the Maine Association of Nonprofits.

“The resources to support a big nonprofit sector have never really been there,” he said, adding that many Maine nonprofits have shut down or consolidated in recent years. “I think the recession just kind of accelerated that to some degree, or just kind of shocked the system.”

The nonprofit sector remains a vital part of Maine’s economy, employing one in seven workers, paying roughly $3.6 billion in annual wages and contributing about $10 billion a year to the state’s economy, according to the most recent Association of Nonprofits data.