that he starts -- the first thing that could be looked at as --oundation, his first thing about 1902. let's call it the turn of the 20th century. reporter: do they contribute domestically as well as internationally? barbara: absolutely. when you get to the bigger philanthropies -- the general education board was a u.s. central command agreement to improve public education -- u.s. centered philanthropy to improve education. we would think of it as a large multipurpose private in doubt philanthropic foundation. they always intended to be both domestic and international from the get-go. some of that is because standard oil was a global corporation. they were always thinking outside national line. reporter: how do they choose what causes they would support? barbara: all they do at first was that they wanted to benefit the well-being of mankind it is the broadest -- mankind. it is the broadest mission statement of all time. but when the board of trustees get together, there are a few threads that make a lot of sense for them to go forward with, and part because they are also invested, but