Northern Funds
06/12/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/12/2026 14:53
Summary Prospectus by Investment Company (Form 497K)
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
NORTHERN FUNDS
ACTIVE M EMERGING MARKETS EQUITY FUND
ACTIVE M INTERNATIONAL EQUITY FUND
MULTI-MANAGER GLOBAL REAL ESTATE FUND
(each a "Fund," and together, the "Funds")
SUPPLEMENT DATED JUNE 12, 2026 TO THE FUNDS' PROSPECTUS AND SUMMARY PROSPECTUSES DATED JULY 31, 2025, AS SUPPLEMENTED
Effective June 12, 2026, Steve Indiveri is no longer a portfolio manager of the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Active M International Equity Fund. Effective June 12, 2026, all references to Steve Indiveri in the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Active M International Equity Fund's Prospectuses are hereby deleted.
In addition, the Board of Trustees of Northern Funds has approved reductions to the management fees charged by Northern Trust Investments, Inc. ("NTI"), the investment adviser, for the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Multi-Manager Global Real Estate Fund, effective July 31, 2026. Also effective July 31, 2026, NTI has agreed to lower the contractual expense limitation amounts for the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Multi-Manager Global Real Estate Fund, which will have the effect of decreasing the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Multi-Manager Global Real Estate Fund's Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement.
Effective June 12, 2026, the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Active M International Equity Fund's Prospectus and Summary Prospectuses are amended as follows:
| 1. |
The paragraph under the section entitled "FUND SUMMARIES - Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund - Management" on page 165 of the Prospectus is deleted and replaced with the following: |
INVESTMENT ADVISER, PORTFOLIO MANAGERS AND SUB-ADVISERS. NTI, an indirect subsidiary of Northern Trust Corporation, serves as the investment adviser of the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund. Kaz Sikora, Senior Vice President of NTI, Luis Diez, Senior Vice President of NTI, Deepika Sharma, CFA, Senior Vice President of NTI, and Robert Dwinall, Vice President of NTI, have been managers of the Fund since May 2023, March 2026, March 2026, and June 2026, respectively. Axiom Investors LLC, FIAM LLC, and Westwood Global Investments, LLC each serves as a sub-adviser of the Fund. From time to time, the Fund may have little or no assets allocated to any one particular sub-adviser in light of economic or other conditions, as determined by NTI in its sole discretion. The Northern Trust Company, an affiliate of NTI, serves as transfer agent, custodian, securities lending agent, and sub-administrator to the Fund.
| 2. |
The paragraph under the section entitled "FUND SUMMARIES - Active M International Equity Fund - Management" beginning on page 170 of the Prospectus is deleted and replaced with the following: |
INVESTMENT ADVISER, PORTFOLIO MANAGERS AND SUB-ADVISERS. NTI, an indirect subsidiary of Northern Trust Corporation, serves as the investment adviser of the Active M International Equity Fund. Kaz Sikora, Senior Vice President of NTI, Luis Diez, Senior Vice President of NTI, Deepika Sharma, CFA, Senior Vice President of NTI, and Robert Dwinall, Vice President of NTI, have been managers of the Fund since May 2023, March 2026, March 2026, and June 2026, respectively. AllianceBernstein L.P., Causeway Capital Management LLC, Victory Capital Management Inc., WCM Investment Management, LLC and Wellington Management Company LLP each serves as a sub-adviser of the Fund. From time to time, the Fund may have little or no assets allocated to any one particular sub-adviser in light of economic or other conditions, as determined by NTI in its sole discretion. The Northern Trust Company, an affiliate of NTI, serves as transfer agent, custodian, securities lending agent, and sub-administrator to the Fund.
| 3. |
The first paragraph under the section entitled "FUND MANAGEMENT - ACTIVE M/ MULTI-MANAGER FUNDS" on page 195 of the Prospectus is deleted and replaced with the following: |
The managers for the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Active M International Equity Fund are Kaz Sikora, Luis Diez, and Deepika Sharma, CFA, each a Senior Vice President of NTI, and Robert Dwinall, Vice President of NTI. Messrs. Sikora, Diez, and Dwinall, and Ms. Sharma have been managers of the Funds since May 2023, March 2026, June 2026, and March 2026, respectively. Mr. Sikora joined NTI in 2005 and is Head of Global Equity, senior research analyst, and portfolio manager on NTI's Multi-Manager Investments team. Mr. Diez joined NTI in 2006 and is of the Global Director of Research on NTI's Multi-Manager Solutions team. He is also a portfolio manager of the Multi-Manager Global Listed Infrastructure
| NORTHERN FUNDS PROSPECTUS |
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
Fund, Multi-Manager Global Real Estate Fund, and Multi-Manager High Yield Opportunity Fund. Ms. Sharma joined NTI in 2025 and is the Head of Multi-Asset Custom Solutions at NTI. Prior to joining NTI, Ms. Sharma held several leadership roles at BlackRock Investment Management from 2017 to 2025 and was most recently, the Global Head of Manager Selection. More information about Mr. Dwinall is provided below.
Effective July 31, 2026, the Active M Emerging Markets Equity Fund and Multi-Manager Global Real Estate Fund's Prospectus and Summary Prospectuses are amended as follows:
| 4. |
The section entitled "FUND SUMMARIES - ACTIVE M EMERGING MARKETS EQUITY FUND - FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND" and the first paragraph and the table in the section entitled "- EXAMPLE" in the Prospectus are deleted and replaced with the following: |
FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may be required to pay commissions and/or other forms of compensation to a financial intermediary for transactions in Shares Class shares, which are not reflected in the tables or the examples below.
|
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
||||
|
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price) |
None | |||
|
Redemption Fee (30 days or less after purchase) (as a percentage of amount redeemed, if applicable) |
2.00% | |||
|
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
||||
|
Shares Class |
||||||||
|
Management Fees(1) |
0.95% | |||||||
|
Other Expenses |
0.33% | |||||||
|
Transfer Agent Fees |
0.04% | |||||||
|
Other Operating Expenses |
0.29% | |||||||
|
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses(2) |
0.01% | |||||||
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
1.29% | |||||||
|
Expense Reimbursement(3) |
(0.30)% | |||||||
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement(3) |
0.99% | |||||||
| (1) | "Management Fees" have been restated to reflect current fees, effective July 31, 2026. |
| (2) | The Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses do not correlate to the ratio of expenses to average net assets as reported in the "Financial Highlights" section of the Prospectus, which reflects the operating expenses of the Fund and does not include Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses. |
| (3) | Northern Trust Investments, Inc. ("NTI") has contractually agreed to reimburse a portion of the operating expenses of the Fund so that after such reimbursement the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses of the Fund (excluding (i) acquired fund fees and expenses; (ii) the compensation paid to each Independent Trustee of the Trust; (iii) expenses of third party consultants engaged by the Board of Trustees; (iv) membership dues paid to the Investment Company Institute and Mutual Fund Directors Forum; (v) expenses in connection with the negotiation and renewal of the revolving credit facility; and (vi) extraordinary expenses and interest) do not exceed 0.97%. NTI has also contractually agreed to reimburse the management fees payable by the Fund in an amount equal to the net management fee NTI earns on the amount invested by the Fund in money market funds managed by NTI. This contractual limitation may not be terminated before July 31, 2027 without the approval of the Board of Trustees. |
EXAMPLE
The following Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same (taking into account the expense reimbursement arrangement for one year). Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
| 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||||
| Shares Class | $101 | $379 | $679 | $1,530 |
| 5. |
The section entitled "FUND SUMMARIES - MULTI-MANAGER GLOBAL REAL ESTATE FUND - FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND" and the first paragraph and the table in the section entitled "- EXAMPLE" in the Prospectus are deleted and replaced with the following: |
FEES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUND
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fund. You may be required to pay commissions and/or other forms of compensation to a financial intermediary for transactions in Shares Class shares, which are not reflected in the tables or the examples below.
| NORTHERN FUNDS PROSPECTUS |
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
|
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
||||
|
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price) |
None | |||
|
Redemption Fee (30 days or less after purchase) (as a percentage of amount redeemed, if applicable) |
2.00% | |||
|
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a |
||||
|
Shares Class |
||||||||
|
Management Fees(1) |
0.78% | |||||||
|
Other Expenses |
0.20% | |||||||
|
Transfer Agent Fees |
0.04% | |||||||
|
Other Operating Expenses |
0.16% | |||||||
|
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses(2) |
0.01% | |||||||
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
0.99% | |||||||
|
Expense Reimbursement(3) |
(0.17)% | |||||||
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement(3) |
0.82% | |||||||
| (1) | "Management Fees" have been restated to reflect current fees, effective July 31, 2026. |
| (2) | The Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses do not correlate to the ratio of expenses to average net assets as reported in the "Financial Highlights" section of the Prospectus, which reflects the operating expenses of the Fund and does not include Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses. |
| (3) | Northern Trust Investments, Inc. ("NTI") has contractually agreed to reimburse a portion of the operating expenses of the Fund so that after such reimbursement the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses of the Fund (excluding (i) acquired fund fees and expenses; (ii) the compensation paid to each Independent Trustee of the Trust; (iii) expenses of third party consultants engaged by the Board of Trustees; (iv) membership dues paid to the Investment Company Institute and Mutual Fund Directors Forum; (v) expenses in connection with the negotiation and renewal of the revolving credit facility; and (vi) extraordinary expenses and interest) do not exceed 0.80%. NTI has also contractually agreed to reimburse the management fees payable by the Fund in an amount equal to the net management fee NTI earns on the amount invested by the Fund in money market funds managed by NTI. This contractual limitation may not be terminated before July 31, 2027 without the approval of the Board of Trustees. |
EXAMPLE
The following Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same (taking into account the expense reimbursement arrangement for one year). Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
| 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |||||
| Shares Class | $84 | $298 | $531 | $1,198 |
Please retain this supplement with your Prospectus for future reference.
|
50 South LaSalle Street P.O. Box 75986 Chicago, Illinois 60675-5986 800-595-9111 northerntrust.com/funds |
NF SPT PRO COMBO (6/26) |
| NORTHERN FUNDS PROSPECTUS |
Northern Funds published this content on June 12, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via EDGAR on June 12, 2026 at 20:53 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]