Strategy. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in fixed income securities and other debt instruments. For purposes of the Funds 80% investment policy, fixed-income securities and debt instruments include mortgage related securities, including mortgage-backed securities, adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), mortgage-pass through securities and mortgage dollar rolls; U.S. and non-U.S. corporate debt securities; Yankee Bonds (dollar-denominated obligations issued in the U.S. by non-U.S. banks and corporations); fixed income securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, non-U.S. governments, or by any U.S. government or non-U.S. government agency or instrumentality; municipal bonds; collateralized loan obligations; asset-backed securities and floating rate notes. The Fund may enter into repurchase agreements covering the … Show more… Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in fixed income securities and other debt instruments. For purposes of the Funds 80% investment policy, fixed-income securities and debt instruments include mortgage related securities, including mortgage-backed securities, adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs), mortgage-pass through securities and mortgage dollar rolls; U.S. and non-U.S. corporate debt securities; Yankee Bonds (dollar-denominated obligations issued in the U.S. by non-U.S. banks and corporations); fixed income securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, non-U.S. governments, or by any U.S. government or non-U.S. government agency or instrumentality; municipal bonds; collateralized loan obligations; asset-backed securities and floating rate notes. The Fund may enter into repurchase agreements covering the foregoing securities. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in debt securities that are rated below investment grade (commonly referred to as high-yield or junk bonds). The Funds fixed income securities may include unrated securities, if deemed by the Sub-Advisers to be of comparable quality to allowable investment grade and non-investment grade securities. Generally, the Fund will invest in securities denominated in U.S. dollars but may invest in non-U.S. dollar securities issued by foreign entities. The Fund will strive to hedge non-U.S. dollar exposure through the use of derivatives in the form of currency forwards or currency swaps. Derivatives will not be used to gain exposure to non-U.S. dollar currencies. The Fund may invest in futures, primarily U.S. Treasury futures. The Fund may buy or sell U.S. Treasury futures to manage the Funds portfolio duration, yield curve positioning, or trade execution on a more cost-effective basis than by use of physical securities alone. The Fund may use credit default swaps on a single issuer (CDS) or a credit default swap index (CDX) to hedge credit risk. Some of these investments will cause the Fund to be, in part, indirectly exposed to companies that would otherwise be screened out by the Advisers Catholic Responsible Investments screening criteria. Accordingly, the Fund limits such investments to situations where they (a) do not constitute, in the aggregate, more than 5% of the Funds investments at any time, and (b) where the Adviser determines such investments are necessary to achieve the Funds investment objective and when the Adviser believes there are no reasonable alternative investments that exist that are consistent with its Catholic Responsible Investing screening criteria. The Funds use of derivatives may cause the Funds investment returns to be impacted by the performance of securities the Fund does not own and result in the Funds total investment exposure exceeding the value of its portfolio. A portion of the Funds net assets may be illiquid investments. The Fund may invest in variable and floating rate securities. The Fund may invest in non-U.S. debt securities, including developed and emerging market debt securities, some of which may be obligations of corporations, non-U.S. dollar denominated. The Fund may invest in obligations issued or guaranteed by U.S. or foreign banks. The Fund may invest in futures, primarily interest rate and U.S. Treasury futures, and forward and swaps in the interest rate, currency and credit default markets. The Fund may buy or sell futures or swaps to gain or hedge exposure to risk factors or to alter the Funds investment characteristics. The Fund may not purchase private placement securities except for securities eligible for re-sale under Rule 144A of the 1933 Act. The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of portfolio securities to achieve its principal investment strategies. The Adviser has engaged Mercer Investments LLC (Mercer), the Funds primary sub-adviser, to provide ongoing research, opinions and recommendations of institutional asset managers and their investment funds for consideration by the Adviser, on behalf of the Fund, with respect to sub-adviser selection and portfolio construction. Mercer also provides certain non-advisory services for the Fund. However, Mercer does not have discretionary authority with respect to the investment of the Funds assets. The Adviser, working closely with Mercer and in consideration of its recommendations, uses both a quantitative screening process and qualitative selection process when selecting investments for the Fund to implement its investment strategy. The Adviser and Mercer conduct research on various investment managers and investment options in order to establish a selection of investments to fulfill the Funds investment objectives. Mercers assistance and recommendations for selection of investment funds are made according to asset allocation, return expectations and other guidelines set by the Adviser with oversight of the Board. No assurance can be given that any or all investment strategies, or the Funds investment program, will be successful. The Fund uses a multi-manager approach, relying upon a number of sub-advisers (each, a Sub-Adviser and collectively, the Sub-Advisers) with differing investment philosophies to manage portions of the Funds portfolio under the general supervision of the Adviser. The Fund combines complementary active managers to enhance risk-adjusted returns by exposing the Fund to multiple return drivers. The Sub-Advisers use top-down macroeconomic analysis along with fundamental research to capture inefficiencies in the valuation of sectors and individual securities combined with duration management in pursuit of above-benchmark returns over a full market cycle. The Sub-Advisers may engage in relative value trading and asset allocation for portfolio management. The Fund seeks to combine economic and fundamental research to capture inefficiencies in the valuation of market sectors and individual securities. It is also designed to permit its sub-advisers substantial flexibility to adjust the portfolio to take advantage of volatile market conditions and to mitigate the negative impact of rising interest rates. The Sub-Advisers actively manage the duration of the Fund and purchase securities such that the average weighted duration of the Funds portfolio will typically be similar to the Bloomberg 1-5 Year Government Credit Index (the Index) duration, generally ranging within one-half years to five years. The Fund defines duration by reference to the Index. Brandywine Global Investment Management, LLC (Brandywine Global) Brandywine Global takes a top-down, macro, value-oriented approach to fixed income investing. Given the size of the U.S. economy and its deep interconnectedness with the global economy via trade, financial, central bank, and USD dependency, Brandywine Global seeks to understand the U.S. business and monetary cycles in relation to the broader global macro-economic picture as opposed to solely in isolation. The Brandywine Global - U.S. Fixed Income (USFI) strategy utilized in the Fund is a U.S.-only strategy that emphasizes active duration management as a key alpha driver, supplemented by trigger-based allocations to investment grade credit when spreads have widened. Portfolio duration will be managed within a range of +/-2.5 years of the Bloomberg 1-5 Year Government Credit Index. When investing in fixed income securities, Brandywine Global has a natural bias to own medium- to longer-dated fixed-rate bonds. Brandywine Global has the flexibility to reduce portfolio duration should it believe duration risk poses a significant threat to capital preservation. Brandywine Global invests primarily in U.S. government securities and investment-grade corporate credit. Brandywine Global accepts meaningful credit risk only after spreads have widened and the opportunity exists to invest in credit sectors trading at a discount, profiting as spreads normalize. Typically, the USFI strategy has employed limited use of derivatives. However, Brandywine Global has the option to use futures to adjust duration within the normal guideline bands. Credit default swaps are allowed for managing credit exposure or trading execution on a more cost-effective basis than by use of physical securities alone. To avoid the inefficiencies of multi-sector U.S. bond benchmarks, the Brandywine Global portfolio management team takes a benchmark-agnostic approach that limits investment to only the few sectors and issues considered most attractive. The primary objective of the USFI strategy utilized in the Fund is to seek to outperform the Bloomberg 1-5 Year Government Credit Index over a full market cycle in differentiated ways than Brandywine Globals peers while preserving the diversification benefits of core bonds (e.g. minimizing domestic equity correlations during periods of heightened market volatility). Sun Life Capital Management (U.S.) LLC (SLC Management) The portion of the Fund managed by SLC Management has an overall investment objective to seek total return versus the Bloomberg 1-5 Year Government Credit Index while mitigating interest rate risk. SLC Management attempts to accomplish these investment objectives by investing in U.S. dollar denominated investment grade and high yield fixed income securities, predominantly via securitized bonds without any issue or issuer concentration constraints. The long-term objective of the account is to outperform the Bloomberg 1-5 Year Government Credit Index when measured over 3-to-5 year periods. The sensitivity to interest rate changes is intended to track the market for domestic, investment grade fixed income securities. The effective duration of the accounts investment portfolio at the end of each calendar month during a fiscal year will typically be within half a year of the benchmark. The primary strategies utilized for value add are sector rotation, issue selection, and yield curve positioning. Teachers Advisors, LLC (TAL) TAL will manage a diversified fixed income portfolio consistent with an investment objective of seeking long-term capital appreciation and current income in a short duration, U.S. dollar-oriented, predominantly investment grade risk profile. The portfolio will be benchmarked against a standard short duration benchmark, the Bloomberg 1-5 Year Government Credit Index. The portfolio is actively managed, primarily through a fundamental, bottom up investment process focused on sector relative value and idiosyncratic security selection, and to a lesser extent via duration and yield curve positioning and tactical trading. Up to 20% below investment grade (off-benchmark) exposure is permitted. Any non-U.S. dollar positions will be fully hedged back to U.S. dollars. TAL will strive to select securities for the portfolio that align with its proprietary impact investing framework for public fixed income markets. This approach seeks to direct capital to securities with use of proceeds language in offering documents and a commitment to impact reporting via project-specific key performance indicators. The portfolio management team will select securities that the team believes represent attractive relative value and favorable risk-adjusted potential as compared with the performance benchmark and that align with one of the following social or environmental themes: Affordable Housing; Community & Economic Development; Renewable Energy & Climate Change; Natural Resources. Investing on the basis of environmental and social impact is qualitative and subjective by nature. There can be no assurance that every investment by TAL will meet TALs impact criteria, or will do so at all times, or that the impact framework or any judgement exercised by TAL will reflect the beliefs or values of any particular investor. TAL may invest up to 20% of the current market value of the portfolio in non-impact securities in order to achieve desired portfolio level characteristics and manage risk. Catholic Responsible Investing The Fund will invest its assets in a manner consistent with the components, details and definitions of Catholic Responsible Investing (CRI) as adopted from time to time by the De La Salle Brothers of the Christian Schools. CRI is an investment strategy designed specifically to help investors seek sound financial returns while remaining faithful to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The components and details of CRI are intended to reflect both the charism (or founding spirit) and the current teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and, as such, the components and details are as adopted from time to time by the De La Salle Brothers of the Christian Schools, currently through the action of its civil entity, the Adviser. CRI blends core Roman Catholic Church teaching with a disciplined, diversified investment process aimed at delivering competitive, risk-adjusted returns over time. Currently, the three components of CRI are Catholic investment screening, active ownership and diversified investment management. For more information about the Funds policy to invest consistent with CRI and these three components, please see the section of the prospectus entitled More Information about the Funds Investment Objectives, Principal Investment Strategies and Principal Risks, Fundamental Investment Policy of Catholic Responsible Investing. As part of the Funds Catholic Responsible Investing Process, the Adviser maintains a master list of global securities that are restricted from inclusion in the Funds portfolio. While the Catholic Responsible Investing screening criteria are designed to exclude certain companies or investments from the potential investment universe because these companies operate businesses deemed inconsistent with Catholic values, the Adviser does not anticipate this reduction to have a material impact on the Funds ability to achieve its investment objective. The Adviser seeks to balance the impact of the Catholic Responsible Investing screening criteria by either overweighting select portfolio holdings or substituting additional holdings so that the Funds overall portfolio composition is adjusted to achieve its investment objective. As a result, Fund performance may be different than a fund with a similar investment strategy that does not invest in accordance with Catholic Responsible Investing screening criteria. Show less