Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities of small-capitalization companies. This investment policy can be changed by the Fund upon 60 days’ prior written notice to shareholders. For purposes of this policy, a small-capitalization company is a company with a market capitalization within the range of the Russell 2000 Index at the time of initial purchase. While the market capitalization range of the Russell 2000 Index changes throughout the year, as of December 31, 2021, the market capitalization range of the Russell 2000 Index was between approximately $32 million and $13.9 billion. The equity securities in which the Fund invests are primarily common stocks of U.S. companies.

The Fund makes investment decisions consistent with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Socially Responsible Investing Guidelines (the “USCCB Guidelines”), and therefore, the Fund is

designed to avoid investments in companies that are believed to be involved with abortion, contraception, pornography, stem cell research/human cloning, weapons of mass destruction, or other enterprises that conflict with the USCCB Guidelines. The policies and practices of the companies selected for the Fund are monitored for various issues contemplated by the USCCB Guidelines. If the Adviser becomes aware that the Fund is invested in a company whose policies and practices are inconsistent with the USCCB Guidelines, the Adviser may sell the company’s securities or otherwise exclude future investments in such company.

In selecting investments for the Fund, the Adviser combines quantitative and qualitative analyses that together seek to identify companies that have above-average investment potential. The quantitative process begins with understanding the market regime or investment environment. Factor exposures used by the quantitative models are tilted to areas that are believed will perform best within a specific environment. Four “super-factors” (Valuation, Growth and Profitability, Quality and Investor Sentiment) are then applied to the broad universe. By combining these factors, the investable universe is ranked by decile (1 = attractive, 10 = unattractive). The “buyable” universe for the Fund generally includes the top three deciles, or the most statistically attractive companies, and the weighted average rank of securities held in the Fund are within the top three deciles.

Fundamental research is conducted on the buyable universe to assess criteria that are difficult to quantify. The portfolio management and fundamental analyst teams construct the portfolio with only highly ranked companies. Risk is measured and monitored throughout the research and portfolio management process in different ways, including active risk to the benchmark, individual stock contribution to that active risk and sector/industry group/individual stock exposure risks. The Adviser will generally sell a stock on behalf of the Fund if the stock experiences a rankings decline or extreme price movements, or for risk management purposes.