A joint paper by the San Francisco Foundation and the city attorney’s office recommends major changes among the Bay area’s nonprofit groups as a gaping municipal deficit crimps charities’ budgets, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

The study suggests ways the city can reduce the nearly $500-million a year it spends on some 800 social-service providers as it seeks to close an unprecedented $438-million budget gap. It recommends that the city help some of San Francisco’s 7,000 nonprofit organizations cut costs, merge, or close.

“There are going to be changes in the nonprofit landscape — not all are going to survive,” the foundation’s executive director, Sandra Hernandez, said.