Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in securities of small and mid capitalization companies. In particular, the Fund primarily invests in a diversified portfolio of common stock of domestic companies. The Fund may also invest in real estate investment trusts (“REITs”). The Fund’s advisor, Kennedy Capital Management LLC (the “Advisor”), defines small and mid capitalization companies as those with market capitalizations within the range of companies included in the Russell 2500TM Index (the “Index”) at the time of purchase. The capitalization range of companies in the Index may change with market conditions or due to changes in the composition of the Index. As of March 31, 2024, the market capitalization range of the Index was between $12.2million and $56.5billion. Investments in companies that move above or below the capitalization range of the Index may continue to be held by the Fund in the Advisor’s sole discretion, and the Fund’s investments are not limited to the stocks included in the Index.

The Advisor’s investment decisions for the Fund are made primarily on the basis of bottom-up, fundamental research, integrated with an analysis of a company’s environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) characteristics. ESG factors are considered on both an inclusionary and exclusionary basis. The Advisor’s investment process involves examining four key components: (i) the company’s corporate performance (including traditional fundamentals and ESG variables); (ii) the systematic effects on the company’s business; (iii) the company’s competitive position; and (iv) the company’s intrinsic value. The Advisor’s environmental assessment process includes identifying companies that provide products or services that are tied to an environmental competitive advantage as compared to their peers. For example, the Fund may invest in companies offering products or services with superior energy efficiency, solutions to emissions regulations, or services related to recycling and product reuse. Social assessment includes identifying companies that promote societal benefits or address societal challenges. For example, the Fund may invest in companies that focus on lowering the cost of healthcare, combatting the opioid epidemic, or offering ethically sourced products. Governance assessment includes a focus on shareholder rights, senior management compensation, board structure and audit/accounting risk.

The Advisor may complement its internal ESG assessment of a company with relevant primary data from third parties regarding ESG considerations such as carbon emissions (reported or estimated) and carbon reserves, business involvement data for key social issues, and corporate governance. The Advisor does not rely on third party ESG rankings or a scoring mechanism in the Fund’s portfolio construction process; however, specific governance scores are a component of company assessments and stock selection. The Advisor engages in active dialogues with company management teams to further inform its investment decision-making and to foster discussion with management regarding ESG issues and opportunities.

The Fund is fossil fuel free, which means it excludes companies that hold fossil fuel reserves on their balance sheets. The Fund prioritizes reduced greenhouse gas emissions (reported and estimated) in the portfolio construction process. In addition, the Fund’s ESG criteria is designed to exclude companies that are involved in, and/or derive significant revenue from, certain industries or product lines, including tobacco, civil firearms (defined as those firearms typically available for consumer use in the United States) and controversial weapons (defined as cluster munitions and land mines). The Fund’s ESG criteria does not exclude traditional defense contractors with no exposure to controversial weapons or civil firearms.

The Fund invests in growth-oriented companies as well as those companies that the Advisor considers to be undervalued. The Advisor utilizes a company’s return on invested capital as a central component of its analysis to determine the intrinsic value of companies included in the Fund’s portfolio.

The Advisor may sell all or a portion of a position of the Fund’s portfolio holding when in its opinion one or more of the following occurs, among other reasons: (i) the issuer’s fundamentals deteriorate; (ii) there is a significant change in the company’s performance relative to ESG criteria or the Advisor’s assessment thereof; (iii) the Advisor’s valuation analysis determines a security has realized it full valuation; (iv) the Advisor identifies more attractive investment opportunities for the Fund; or (v) the Fund requires cash to meet redemption requests.