Movie Nights 

As you know, pre-recorded home 

videocassettes or videotapes, those 

commonly available in the association’s 

video library, are intended for personal, 

home use only. Viewing outside of the 

home, such as in common areas (i.e. 

recreation club, childcare facility, or 

association administrative offices, etc.) 

requires a license as per U.S. 

copyright law. In December 2000, 

the Office of Commissary (CR) 

and Recreation Affairs signed an 

agreement with the Motion Picture 

Licensing Corporation (MPLC) 

providing a blanket license for all 

employee associations. The 

license is renewed annually (as 

approved by the Central Fund Board) at no 

cost to the individual employee 

association. 

If you are not already taking advantage 

of the license and would like to do so, here 

is what you should know. 

Associations can use public showings 

of videos to generate revenue for the 

association and to provide entertainment 

for its members. 

An admission fee cannot be 

charged. However, donations may be 

accepted and concession sales (i.e. soda, 

popcorn, snacks, candy, etc.) are a good 

source of revenue. You may consider 

“theme nights” around a particular movie 

combined with dinner and/or dancing. For 

example, you might have a “scarefest” by 

combining thriller movies with a 

masquerade dance. Here, associations may 

charge a ticket price for the event. 

There are some limitations in the 

agreement. 

First, associations are limited to titles 

from motion picture companies named in 

the agreement. Specific titles which may 

be publicly performed under the agreement 

are motion pictures which have 

been produced and/or 

distributed by the following 

motion picture companies: 

 Avid Home Video 

 American Portrait Films 

 Anime 18 

 Arena Home Video 

 Artisan Entertainment 

 Best Film & Video 

 Bridgestone Multimedia Group 

 Buena Vista Pictures 

 Central Park Media 

 Family Entertainment Library 

 Family Home Entertainment 

 Gateway Films 

 Hanna-Barbera 

 Hollywood Pictures 

 International Film Forum 

 Kidmark Entertainment 

 LIVE Entertainment 

 Learning Corporation of America 

 Lorimar Telepictures 

 McGraw-Hill 

 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 

(pre-1986 title) 
 New World Pictures 

 PPI Entertainment 

 Praise Home Video 

 RKO Pictures 

 Scholastic Entertainment 

 Showdown Home Video 

 Solar Home Video 

 Sony Picture Classics 

 Touchstone Pictures 

 Trimark Pictures 

 Turner Home Entertainment 

 US Manga Corps 

 Vestron Video 

 Vidmark Entertainment 

 Vision Video 

 Walt Disney Pictures 

 Warner Bros. 

 Xenon Home Video 

Second, all videocassettes and 

videodiscs must be obtained from 

legitimate sources (i.e. no pirated videos 

may be shown publicly). Legitimate 

sources include, but are not limited to, 

those contained in the CR Supplier 

Directory. 

Third, videocassettes and videodiscs 

may not be duplicated, edited, or otherwise 

modified. 

A revised charter is not required to 

implement this service. However, we do 

ask that employee associations report this 

service in Post Profiles as part of the 

annual questionnaire process. 

The umbrella license agreement applies 

only to employee associations and does not 

cover the Community Liaison Office or 

any other entity at post. 

Associations that have previously held a 

license with MPLC, should have received 

a pro-rated refund by now. If not, please 

contact your MPLC representative. 

Questions regarding the blanket 

agreement may be directed to the CR 

Operations Team via email at 

foodandfun@state.gov. 

Enjoy the movie! 

NOT-FOR-PROFIT? 

A number of association Board members 

have adopted the misconception that 

association profits must be kept below a 

given percentage of sales. 

As you may know, employee 

associations are chartered as not-for-profit 

entities. Not-for-profit entities, much the 

same as for-profit entities, must at a 

minimum break even in order to stay in 

business. Yes, the employee association is 

a business. In keeping with this 

philosophy, associations must strive to 

operate using sound business practices 

while providing goods and services to its 

members at a fair price. Pricing must 

allow for a profit margin that enables the 

association to maintain solvency and 

ensure that its activities continue to exist 

for future members. Pricing may also 

include an effort to improve association 

activities. This is what is meant by “Notfor-profit” AKA “Non-profit”. All profits 

are reinvested into the association to 

improve services. Such improvements 

may include the expansion of current 

services, the introduction of new services, 

or capital improvements (such as reserves 

for replacement of equipment). 

 As you can see, there are many 

purposes for which derived profits may be 

used. As such, it is preferable to let the 

individual association determine its needs 

and act in the best interest of the 

membership. However, if an association 

proves extremely profitable or has 

accumulated significant retained earnings, 

CR will ask for a financial plan regarding 

the future use of funds deemed excessive. 

CR's review of management plans ensures 

that associations continue to operate for 

the morale and welfare of their members. 

 If you have questions regarding the 

association's not-for-profit status, contact 

the Accounting Team at 

foodandfun@state.gov. 
This Just In... 

We’ve changed the way we do business! 

We think you’ll like the new personal 

attention you’ll be receiving. Each 

employee association has now been 

assigned its own contact team within the 

Office of Commissary and Recreation 

Affairs (CR). Your CR team consists of an 

Operations Officer and an Accountant. 

Contact your CR Accountant with 

financial and accounting related questions. 

Your CR Operations Officer should be 

able to assist you with all other inquiries. 

The charts below list the teams assigned to 

each employee association alphabetically 

by region and city. Contact the staff by 

phone (+1-202-663-1330) fax (+1-202-

663-1329) or the email addresses provided 

at the end of the listings. 

AFRICA 

Post Ops Officer Accountant 

ABIDJAN Rob Cyndi 

ABUJA Rob Cyndi 

ACCRA Rob Anthony 

ADDIS ABABA Rob Greg 

ANTANANARIVO Rob Greg 

BAMAKO Rob Cyndi 

CONAKRY Rob Greg 

COTONOU Rob Anthony 

DAKAR Rob Greg 

DAR ES SALAAM Rob Cyndi 

GABORONE Rob Anthony 

HARARE Rob Anthony 

KAMPALA Rob Anthony 

KHARTOUM Rob Cyndi 

KIGALI Rob Anthony 

KINSHASA Rob Cyndi 

LAGOS Rob Greg 

LOME Rob Cyndi 

LUSAKA Rob Greg 

MONROVIA Rob Anthony 

NAIROBI Rob Cyndi 

N’DJAMENA Rob Anthony 

NOUAKCHOTT Rob Greg 

OUAGADOUGOU Rob Greg 

PRETORIA Rob Cyndi 

WINDHOEK Rob Anthony 

YAOUNDE Rob Anthony 

EAST ASIA & PACIFIC 

Post 

Ops 

Officer Accountant 

BANGKOK Rob Greg 

BEIJING Rob Anthony 

HANOI Rob Greg 

JAKARTA Rob Greg 

KUALA LUMPUR Rob Greg 

MANILA Rob Cyndi 

RANGOON Rob Cyndi 

SEOUL Rob Anthony 

SINGAPORE Rob Anthony 

TAIPEI Rob Anthony 

TOKYO Rob Anthony 

EUROPE 

Post 

Ops 

Officer Accountant 

ALMATY Annie Greg 

ANKARA Annie Anthony 

ATHENS Annie Cyndi 

BAKU Annie Greg 

BERLIN Annie Anthony 

BERN Annie Cyndi 

BRUSSELS Annie Greg 

BUCHAREST Annie Anthony 

BUDAPEST Annie Cyndi 

CHISINAU Annie Greg 

COPENHAGEN Annie Anthony 

DUBLIN Annie Cyndi 

FRANKFURT Annie Anthony 

GENEVA Annie Greg 

HELSINKI Annie Greg 

ISTANBUL Annie Greg 

KIEV Annie Greg 

LISBON Annie Cyndi 

LONDON Annie Anthony 

MADRID Annie Anthony 

MOSCOW Annie Greg 

NICOSIA Annie Cyndi 

OSLO Annie Anthony 

PARIS Annie Anthony 

PRAGUE Annie Cyndi 

ROME Annie Cyndi 

SARAJEVO Annie Cyndi 

SOFIA Annie Anthony 

STOCKHOLM Annie Greg 

TASHKENT Annie Anthony 

TBILISI Annie Cyndi 

THE HAGUE Annie Greg 

VALLETTA Annie Greg 

VIENNA Annie Greg 

WARSAW Annie Cyndi 
YEREVAN Annie Anthony 

NEAR EAST & SOUTH ASIA 

Post Ops Officer Accountant 

ABU DHABI Christy Anthony 

ALGIERS Christy Greg 

AMMAN Christy Cyndi 

BEIRUT Christy Anthony 

CAIRO Christy Cyndi 

CHENNAI Christy Cyndi 

COLOMBO Christy Cyndi 

DAMASCUS Christy Greg 

DHAHRAN Christy Greg 

DHAKA Christy Anthony 

ISLAMABAD Christy Cyndi 

JEDDAH Christy Greg 

JERUSALEM Christy Cyndi 

KARACHI Christy Cyndi 

KATHMANDU Christy Cyndi 

KUWAIT Christy Greg 

MUMBAI Christy Greg 

MUSCAT Christy Cyndi 

NEW DELHI Christy Cyndi 

PESHAWAR Christy Cyndi 

RABAT Christy Greg 

RIYADH Christy Greg 

SANAA Christy Anthony 

TEL AVIV Christy Anthony 

TUNIS Christy Greg 

WESTERN HEMISPHERE 

Post Ops Officer Accountant 

BOGOTÁ Christy Anthony 

BRASILIA Christy Cyndi 

BRIDGETOWN Annie Cyndi 

BUENOS AIRES Christy Anthony 

CARACAS Christy Cyndi 

CIUDAD JUAREZ Christy Anthony 

GUATEMALA Christy Anthony 

KINGSTON Annie Greg 

LA PAZ Christy Greg 

LIMA Christy Greg 

MANAGUA Christy Cyndi 

MEXICO Christy Anthony 

MONTEVIDEO Christy Cyndi 

MONTREAL Christy Anthony 

NASSAU Annie Greg 

OTTAWA Christy Cyndi 

PANAMA Annie Anthony 

PORT AU PRINCE Annie Greg 

PORT OF SPAIN Annie Cyndi 

QUITO Christy Anthony 

SAN JOSE Christy Greg 

SAN SALVADOR Christy Anthony 

SANTIAGO Christy Cyndi 

SANTO DOMINGO Annie Cyndi 

TEGUCIGALPA Christy Greg 

Please contact individual team members at 

the following email addresses: 

Operations Team 

Team Leader: Annie Cocchiaro 

CocchiaroAR@state.gov

Operations Officer: Christy Chesnutt 

ChesnuttCH@state.gov

Operations Officer: Rob Whetsel 

WhetselRM@state.gov

Accounting Team 

Team Leader: Cyndi Burleigh 

BurleighCT@state.gov 

Accountant: Greg Moore 

MooreGT@state.gov

Accountant: Anthony Walker 

WalkerAN@state.gov

You may also contact the staff via our 

central email box (foodandfun@state.gov). 

Send us your comments and questions 

regarding the above assignments. We look 

forward to hearing from you! 

Reminder.... 

Association prepared 

financial statements for the 

period January 1 – June 30, 

2003 are due in CR by August 15, 2003. If 

you anticipate a delay, please contact your 

CR accountant. 

In the next issue of 

The CRonicle, we will 

serve up a feature article on 

frequently asked questions. 

The next issue will be published in 

September. Until then, that’s all folks!