(RALEIGH) -- North Carolina nonprofits are having to make adjustments due to the budget cuts the state General Assembly approved in 2011 to overcome the historic budget shortfall. Vicki Meath is the Executive Director for Just Economics in Asheville. 

Her privately funded organization helps raise awareness and offers support to businesses who wish to pay their employees a living wage versus a minimum wage. "I think our approach is a little bit more conservative and so we're trying to maintain our level of funding in a time when we'd really like to grow," she said.

North Carolina nonprofits employ more than 400,000 people in the state, making up almost ten percent of the workforce.