Steve Goldberg

The load, or sales charge, on a fund goes to reimburse the broker, financial planner, financial adviser, insurance agent, etc., who sells you the fund. Unless you buy the fund directly through the fund company yourself, the load doesn't go to the fund company. Fund companies put loads (and they come in a bewildering variety, often to disguise the fact that you are paying a load) on funds to provide incentives for professionals to sell them to you.
On no-load funds, there is no sales charge. But on all funds, load or no-load, there is an expense ratio, most or all of which goes to the fund company. On stock funds these currently average about 1.5% of your money annually. On bond funds, they're a bit lower. When you consider that the long-term return of stocks is a little over 10% annually, expense ratios do take a sizable bite. That's why we always favor funds with low-expense ratios, other things being close to equal.
Steve Goldberg
Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine