Pick a public-records request. Pay what it costs. Read everything that comes back, published in full, with your name on it if you want it there.

Sponsor a Request · Granite State Report · Effective September 17, 2026 · Revised September 23, 2026

Most of what this outlet publishes started as a letter to a public body under RSA 91-A, New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know Law. The law gives every citizen the same right to ask, and no special tier to the press. It does not make asking free. Agencies charge for copies, certified mail is the only way to prove a letter arrived, and when an agency refuses, the one remedy left is a petition in superior court that starts with a filing fee. Sponsoring a request means one of those letters goes out because you paid for it.

How it works

Requests this newsroom has filed are posted below as cards, each with the agency, the date the request was mailed or emailed, what was asked for, and where the five-business-day clock stands. You pick one and cover it. The money goes to that request’s costs first: fees, postage, copies, and court costs if it comes to that. Anything left over rolls to the next request in line, and the card says so; it is not refunded. Money sent for a request that is never filed is returned on request.

When the records arrive, they publish. The request letter, the agency’s response, every page produced, and every exemption claimed all go into the Granite State Archive with the story that comes out of them. Sponsors are named on the card and in the story’s disclosure line, or not, as they choose.

What it costs

$25

Postage and small copy fees

Covers the certified-mail rounds and the copy charges on a routine request. Where a routine request to a town or a police department starts.

$50

A request with a fee estimate attached

For a request where the agency has quoted a copy fee, or where a second and third letter are already on the calendar.

$100

A request headed for a fight

For a request an agency has denied or ignored, where the next step is a formal demand, a written challenge to a claimed exemption, and possibly the courthouse.

These are payments toward the costs of a request, not purchases of one. If you want a request written and filed on a subject you choose, that is a commission, priced separately on the Commission an Investigation page. The difference is who picks the question.

Open requests

Request cards are posted here as requests go out, with the date sent, the agency, what was asked for, and the clock. Nothing is listed until the letter has been mailed. This section is empty at publication because the page is new; the first cards go up with the next batch of requests.

Ground rules

A sponsor does not choose what is asked, does not see the letter before it goes, does not see the records before readers do, and cannot withdraw a request once it is filed. Sponsorship from a candidate, a campaign, a party, a political committee, or any party to a matter this outlet is already covering is declined. A sponsor who turns out to be a subject of the records is named in the story like anyone else.

RSA 91-A:4, IV(b). The five-business-day clock. If a public body cannot make a record available immediately, then within five business days of the request it must do one of three things: make the record available; deny the request; or provide a written statement of the time reasonably necessary to determine whether the request will be granted or denied, the reason for the delay, and an itemized estimate of the cost if a charge would apply. A denial must cite the specific exemption and briefly explain how it applies (IV(c)). The five days are time to decide, not time to produce. Sponsored request cards track that deadline in public. Read RSA 91-A →

How to pay

By mail. Check payable to Dexter Dow, with Granite State Report and the request you are sponsoring on the memo line, to Granite State Report, 43 Sargent Street, Northfield, NH 03276.

By email. Write to granitestatereport@gmail.com naming the request, and the editor will reply with the current ways to send it. Online payment is coming and will be logged on this page when it is live.

Granite State Report is a sole proprietorship operated by Dexter Dow, not a nonprofit. A sponsorship is not a charitable donation and is not tax-deductible; it is business income to the editor, spent on the request. Payments are final. Every dollar is accounted for on the year-end report on the Support page.

— Dexter Dow, Granite State Report

Your Turn

Which agency should be asked next?
A police department · A town office · A state agency · A school district

You tell me: if you have been told no, told to pay, or told nothing by a New Hampshire public body, send the letter. Write to granitestatereport@gmail.com.

Want to file your own?
You do not need a reporter. Start with the working guide to RSA 91-A, or call 603-931-9264.
Related standing pages: Support · Commission an Investigation · Granite State Archive · How This Is Made
Primary source: RSA 91-A, New Hampshire Right-to-Know Law, New Hampshire General Court.

Version log. v1.0, September 17, 2026: initial publication with three sponsorship levels, payment by mail or email, and an empty request board. Cards are added as requests are mailed. v1.1, September 17, 2026: the lede now tracks the statute’s own word, citizen, in place of person (RSA 91-A:4, I). v1.2, September 23, 2026: the statute box now states RSA 91-A:4, IV(b) as written (the third option within five business days is a written statement of the time needed to decide, the reason, and a cost estimate, not a production date); stated that payments are final and when money is returned; “contributions” changed to “payments toward the costs.” This page is never edited without a log entry.

Granite State Report · Northfield, New Hampshire · granitestatereport.com