Strategy. The U.S. Sustainable Leaders Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective of seeking long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of U.S. companies that the Adviser deems to have sound and improving prospects and which demonstrate that they are current or emerging sustainable leaders through their management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities in accordance with the Advisers criteria. In pursuing the Funds investment strategies, the Adviser invests in quality companies and is an active, engaged owner and takes into consideration a companys management of ESG risks and opportunities and the companys ESG performance. The Adviser evaluates every company against quality criteria and builds conviction using a team-based approach and peer review process. Through fundamental … Show more… The U.S. Sustainable Leaders Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective of seeking long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of U.S. companies that the Adviser deems to have sound and improving prospects and which demonstrate that they are current or emerging sustainable leaders through their management of environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities in accordance with the Advisers criteria. In pursuing the Funds investment strategies, the Adviser invests in quality companies and is an active, engaged owner and takes into consideration a companys management of ESG risks and opportunities and the companys ESG performance. The Adviser evaluates every company against quality criteria and builds conviction using a team-based approach and peer review process. Through fundamental research, supported by a global research presence, the Adviser seeks to identify companies whose quality and future prospects are not yet fully recognized by the market. The Advisers overall quality assessment covers five key factors: (1) durability of the business model, (2) the attractiveness of the industry, (3) the strength of financials, (4) the capability of management, and (5) the most material ESG factors impacting a company. When assessing the most material ESG factors impacting a company, the Adviser evaluates the ownership structure and governance of the company as well as potential environmental and social risks and opportunities that the company may face. The Adviser will assign each company an ESG-quality rating ranging from 1 to 5 (1 indicating strong ESG management and 5 indicating weak ESG management) enabling the Funds investment team to identify current and emerging sustainable leaders. Companies eligible for investment by the Fund must be rated 3 or better by the Adviser. In limited circumstances, for example, in a corporate action or an initial public offering, the Fund may purchase or receive securities of companies that have not been assigned an ESG quality rating by the Adviser so long as one is assigned to the company within the time period required by the Advisers internal process. Examples of areas under scope when assessing a companys ESG quality include the following: ? Corporate Governance ? Carbon Emissions ? Air Quality ? Energy Management ? Water & Wastewater Management ? Waste & Hazardous Materials Management ? Ecological Impacts ? Human Rights & Community Relations ? Customer Privacy ? Data Security ? Access & Affordability ? Product Quality & Safety ? Customer Welfare ? Selling Practices & Product Labelling ? Labor Practices ? Employee Health & Safety ? Employee Engagement ? Diversity & Inclusion ? Product Design & Lifecycle Management ? Business Model Resilience ? Supply Chain Management ? Materials Sourcing & Efficiency ? Physical Impacts of Climate Change ? Business Ethics ? Competitive Behavior ? Management of the Legal & Regulatory Environment ? Critical Incident Risk Management ? Systemic Risk Management The foregoing list is not exhaustive and may change; in addition, not all areas in the foregoing list are relevant to every company in which the Fund may invest. The Adviser focuses its analysis on those areas that it believes will materially impact a companys reputation or operational or financial performance. In carrying out its assessments of ESG quality, the Advisers equity analysts incorporate internal data sources, including external sources (e.g. MSCI reports), a proprietary score (Overall Sustainability Assessment), thematic expertise from the Advisers Sustainable Investment Team and stock-specific expertise from the Advisers equity ESG analysts. The Adviser relies heavily on its own in-depth research and analysis over third party ESG ratings. In addition, the Adviser limits exposure to the lowest scoring companies (those described as laggard) according to the Advisers Overall Sustainability Assessment, securities of companies that have not been assigned an Overall Sustainability Assessment by the Adviser and securities of non-U.S. companies to a maximum of 20% of the Funds net assets . In limited circumstances, for example, in a corporate action or an initial public offering, the Fund may purchase or receive securities of companies that have not been assigned an ESG quality rating by the Adviser so long as one is assigned to the company within the time period required by the Advisers internal process. Binary exclusions are also applied to exclude a defined list of unacceptable activities. Based on MSCI business involvement screening research and the Advisers analysis, the Fund will seek to not invest in companies that have: ? failed to uphold one or more principles of the UN Global Compact; ? an industry tie to (including companies that provide support systems and services, as well as those with direct (i.e., owners and producers) and indirect (i.e., parents and subsidiaries) involvement in) controversial weapons (cluster munitions, landmines, biological / chemical weapons, depleted uranium weapons, blinding laser weapons, incendiary weapons, and/or non-detectable fragments); ? a revenue contribution of 10% or more from the manufacture or sale of conventional weapons or weapons systems; ? a revenue contribution of 10% or more from tobacco or are tobacco manufacturers; ? a revenue contribution of 10% or more from the extraction of unconventional oil and gas (including oil sands, oil shale (kerogen-rich deposits), shale gas, shale oil, coal seam gas, and coal bed methane and excluding conventional oil and gas productions); ? or a revenue contribution from thermal coal extraction. The Fund targets a lower Weighted Average Carbon Intensity (WACI) than its benchmark based on third-party data, or third-party estimates when an issuer does not report Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The Fund will measure compliance with its principal investment strategies at the time of investment. Third party data by which the Fund measures compliance with its binary exclusions, WACI target, and Overall Sustainability Assessment threshold is updated at regular intervals. If a company no longer meets the Funds principal strategies, the Adviser will make a determination as to whether to sell such security, in accordance with the Advisers internal process. As a non-fundamental policy, under normal circumstances, the U.S. Sustainable Leaders Fund invests at least 80% of the value of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities issued by U.S. companies that the Adviser considers to be current or emerging sustainable leaders in accordance with the Advisers criteria. Equity securities include, but are not limited to, common stock, preferred stock and depositary receipts. The Fund seeks to invest in securities of U.S. companies. For purposes of the Funds 80% policy, a company is considered to be a U.S. company if Fund management determines that the company meets one or more of the following criteria: ? the company is organized under the laws of the United States; ? the company has its principal office in, or management is located in, the United States; and/or ? the company has its principal securities trading market in the United States. The Fund may also invest in non-U.S. companies, including primarily Canadian companies. The Fund will invest in companies across a broad spectrum of market capitalizations. The Fund may invest in securities of any market sector and may hold a significant amount of securities of companies, from time to time, within a single sector. The Fund currently anticipates that it will have significant exposure to the information technology sector. The Fund may invest in securities denominated in U.S. Dollars and the currencies of any foreign countries in which it is permitted to invest. The Fund typically has full currency exposure to those markets in which it invests. Show less