They also have well defined rules of distribution and vary little arbitrariness (other causes of overhead)./Also, people should definitely consider things other than expense ratios when looking at charities. <a href="http://freakonomics.com/2011/06/09/why-ranking-charities-by-administr">http://freakonomics.com/2011/06/09/why-ranking-charities-by-administr</a> a tive-expenses-is-a-bad-idea/