THE WINDSOME REGISTER

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1997:

“The Windsome Register is the title of a register of
reputable animal protection organizations worldwide,” former
Royal SPCA and International Fund for Animal Welfare
executive Edward Seymour-Rouse wrote on May 15 to about
500 selected recipients.
“This Register is being set up at the request of a
donor to ensure that his already considerable donations to animal
protection go to those projects ‘that are concerned with
the largest number of animals who have suffered the most,’
backed by the most efficient and effective organizations.”

The ANIMAL PEOPLE fax was soon humming
with inquiries, as no one had ever heard of a “Windsome
Register,” the letter was mailed from England but gave as
return address a post office box in Balboa Island, California,
there was no fax or telephone number listed, and there was
no Seymour-Rouse in any U.S. or British telephone directory.
The accompanying four-page questionaire solicited essentially
the same data as IRS Form 990, plus further particulars.
There was speculation that IFAW founder Brian
Davies might be involved, just retired from the IFAW board
to focus on political work (page 12), but Davies has nothing
to do with it, Seymour-Rouse told ANIMAL PEOPLE,
when we located him at his English home. Apologizing for
confusion caused by his use of the word “register,” which in
the U.S. implies a published reference but in England means a
personal address book, Seymour-Rouse explained that all
data received would be kept strictly confidential, and that the
questionaire was actually a sort of grant application form.
Seymour-Rouse said he represented some “intensely
wealthy people,” who have become disillusioned with the
top-heavy economic structure of many animal protection
organizations. The purpose of the Windsome Register, he
indicated, will be to fund projects by smaller organizations
on either a matching basis or on a contractual basis, paying
one third of each grant amount up front, a third when the project
is half completed, and a third when the project is done.