With the opening gavel of the Legislature last week, the consequences of the state's massive budget deficit are becoming painfully apparent.

And for nonprofit groups — particularly those that depend on state funds to carry out their social service work — surviving this session remains an open question.

For most of them, there will be no state funds. That means they will have to become more efficient and work together to stretch their dwindling dollars.

These nonprofits, many of them tiny operations, often provide important services, from mental-health care to early education, more efficiently that a government bureaucracy. And their emphasis on preventive care can result in long-term savings — the ounce of prevention rather than the pound of cure.

But waiting and hoping the Legislature will somehow come up with the money is wishful thinking. House Speaker Calvin Say, on The Advertiser's Hot Seat blog Wednesday, predicted there would be no money — zero — for grants-in-aid, money from the general fund used by non-profits to carry out ongoing operations. This is a dramatic collapse from just two years ago when the Legislature allotted $10 million.

What to do? If they haven't already done so, nonprofits will need to streamline their operations, form cost-sharing agreements with other groups and develop strategic alliances that can increase their reach with less money.

Organizations with similar missions should collaborate to eliminate duplication and maximize services. This could include sharing basic costs, such as office space, accounting services and the like. And coordinating fund-raising efforts could also yield better revenue returns.

Kelvin H. Taketa, president and CEO of the Hawai'i Community Foundation, says his organization offers help for small nonprofit groups who want to collaborate or merge to save on costs and increase efficiency. "We don't get a lot of takers," he says ruefully.

Perhaps the economic climate will accelerate change, because the demand for social services is already growing.

"It's accelerated in the last quarter of last year," Taketa said, as more people — "newbies," he calls them — for the first time are forced to seek help to make ends meet. And it's going to get worse, as the national malaise laps up on our shores.

"We're about three months behind the Mainland" in feeling the full effects of the recession, Taketa warned.

It's a sobering thought — and an urgent call for creative action.