Today the Wisconsin State Journal Nonprofit Advisory Board spent an hour and a half in vibrant conversation about the state of our community's neediest people.

I and six newsroom staffers listened, gleaning more than a dozen story ideas.

We meet quarterly at the Madison Newspapers building on Fish Hatchery.

Topics for this year's board include the changing demographics of the needy and implications from state budget cuts.

The group appeared to have consensus that children and the elderly are facing greater needs than in the past and that housing is a troublesome cost for most.

Other topics included the governor's recent proposal to tax hospitals and whether that presents a precedent that could lead to taxes on other nonprofits; a reported poverty level for Dane County that exceeds the national poverty rate; the struggle by nonprofits to devote money to fundraising rather than care giving; the nonprofit community's appetite to consolidate services and prevent duplication; and the yearning by nonprofit leaders for the newspaper to tell the good stories of their achievements rather than focusing on the negative stories.

I was fascinated by a thread begun by Hal Menendez of Legal Action of Wisconsin, which provides legal services for low-income residents. Hal suggested that the way Madisonians view discretionary income might have changed over the generations. "We think we have a lot less to give," he said.

Sheri Harper of the Bayview Foundation, Inc., said some nonprofits need to focus. "Too many in Madison are asking for too much," she said.

Everyone agreed that Wisconsin residents' reputation as generous donors has slipped and several pondered why. The need continues to escalate with people living longer and some families with children finding job prospects lean. All agreed that the nonprofits in our area are working with very tight budgets. Hal noted that the budget at his legal services agency is about the same as it was 27 years ago.

The board members pointed journalists to several resources including the Chronicle for Philanthropy and University of Wisconsin Extension's data on the needs of hungry people.

Phil Brinkman, an assistant city editor, appealed to the board to help the State Journal tell compelling stories. He cautioned that sometimes our reporting can intrude on people's lives and that we need the board members' help to report our stories in a way that limits harm to individuals.

Anju Ali, who works with the opinion page and madison.com/wsj, urged board members to meet with  the editorial board to air their organization's issues and to use the Community Pages on madison.com to alert the public to their cause.

Journalists identified several topics for news stories, including:

• Poverty in our community
• The hospital tax
• Corporate giving
• How poor families cope with school breaks
• Care for elders

Several of the reporters had a list of more than five story ideas but they didn't want me blogging about them for fear another media outlet might get to the idea first. So you'll have to trust me that it was a very helpful meeting for our journalists.

In addition to Phil and Anju, staffers attending were: Chris Juzwik, features editor; Sandy Kallio, assistant features editor; Jason Kramer, assistant business editor and editor of the Capital Region Business Journal; and Joanne Huntley, assistant to the editors.

Our valued board members in attendance in addition to Hal and Sheri were JoAnn Stormer, Wisconsin Nonprofits Association; Denise Matyka, Project Home; Paul Terranova, Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Center; Ralph Middlecamp, St. Vincent de Paul-Madison; Andrew Russell, Catholic Multicultural Center; Sharyl Kato, The Rainbow Project; and Patricia Eldred of Independent Living.

Other board members include: Lynn Brady of Consortia United; Denny Caneff of River Alliance of Wisconsin; Marianne Morton, Common Wealth Development; Betty Banks, Today Not Tomorrow and Eileen Mershart, YWCA-Madison.

All of the board members are encouraged to write guest editorials. Our next conversation is May 15. It will be the final meeting of this advisory board and I'll be looking for new members soon.  

This afternoon, I'm off to West High School.

And this just in: I've got on my desk the first copy of Post Print, a new publication from our company. Check it out. It's free and will be available in area coffee shops and eateries.