Nationwide WCM Focused Small Cap Fund

Summary Prospectus February 28, 2020

Class/Ticker A NWGPX C NWGQX R6 NWKEX Institutional Service Class NWGSX

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s Prospectus, which contains information about the Fund and its risks. The Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, each dated February 28, 2020 (as may be supplemented or revised), are incorporated by reference into this Summary Prospectus. For free paper or electronic copies of the Fund’s Prospectus and other information about the Fund, go to nationwide.com/mutualfundprospectuses, email a request to web_help@nationwide.com or call 800-848-0920, or ask any financial advisor, bank, or broker-dealer who offers shares of the Fund.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nationwide Mutual Funds will no longer mail paper copies of your Fund’s annual and semiannual reports, unless you specifically request paper copies of those reports. Instead, Nationwide Mutual Funds will post the reports on the Fund's website, nationwide.com/mutualfundprospectuses, and will mail you a notice of availability each time a report is posted and provide you with the website link to access the reports. 

If you already have elected to receive these reports electronically (known as eDelivery), you will not be affected by this change and you do not need to take any action. You may elect to receive reports and other fund documents via eDelivery by contacting your financial intermediary (such as a broker-dealer or bank) or, if you are a direct investor, by calling Shareholder Services at 800-848-0920.

You may elect to receive all future reports in paper via U.S. mail free of charge. If you invest through a financial intermediary, you can contact your financial intermediary to request that you continue to receive paper copies of your reports. If you invest directly in a Nationwide Mutual Fund, you can call Shareholder Services at 800-848-0920 to register your preference that you wish to continue receiving paper copies of your reports. Your election to receive reports in paper will apply to all Funds held in your account.

Objective

The Nationwide WCM Focused Small Cap Fundseeks long-term capital appreciation.

Fees and Expenses

This table describes the fees and expenses you may pay when buying and holding shares of the Fund. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Fund. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional and in “Investing with Nationwide Funds” commencing on page 94 of the Prospectus and in “Additional Information on Purchases and Sales” commencing on page 100 of the Statement of Additional Information. In addition, if you purchase shares through a specific intermediary, you may be subject to

SP-FSC (2/20)

Summary Prospectus February 28, 2020 1 Nationwide WCM Focused Small Cap Fund

different sales charges including reductions in or waivers of such charges. More information about these intermediary-specific sales charge variations is available in Appendix A to the Fund’s Prospectus.

	Class A Shares	Class C Shares	Class R6 Shares	Institutional Service Class Shares
Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment)
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) imposed on purchases (as a percentage of offering price)	5.75%	None	None	None
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of offering or sale price, whichever is less)	None	1.00%	None	None
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Management Fees(1)	0.75%	0.75%	0.75%	0.75%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees	0.25%	1.00%	None	None
Other Expenses	0.50%	0.51%	0.41%	0.52%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses	1.50%	2.26%	1.16%	1.27%
Fee Waiver/Expense Reimbursement(2)	(0.36)%	(0.36)%	(0.36)%	(0.36)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver/Expense Reimbursement	1.14%	1.90%	0.80%	0.91%

⁽¹⁾ “Management Fees” has been restated to reflect the reduction of contractual investment advisory fees as of November 7, 2019.

⁽²⁾ Nationwide Mutual Funds (the “Trust”) and Nationwide Fund Advisors (the “Adviser”) have entered into a written contract limiting annual fund operating expenses to 0.80% until at least February 28, 2021. Under the expense limitation agreement, the level to which operating expenses are limited applies to all share classes, excluding any taxes, interest, brokerage commissions, Rule 12b-1 fees, acquired fund fees and expenses, short-sale dividend expenses, administrative services fees, other expenses which are capitalized in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and expenses incurred by the Fund in connection with any merger or reorganization, and may exclude other nonroutine expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business. The expense limitation agreement may be changed or eliminated only with the consent of the Board of Trustees of the Trust. The Adviser may request and receive reimbursement from the Fund for advisory fees waived or other expenses reimbursed by the Adviser pursuant to the expense limitation agreement at a date not to exceed three years from the date in which the corresponding waiver or reimbursement to the Fund was made. However, no reimbursement may be made unless: (i) the Fund’s assets exceed $100 million and (ii) the total annual expense ratio of the class making such reimbursement is no higher than the amount of the expense limitation that was in place at the time the Adviser waived the fees or reimbursed the expenses and does not cause the expense ratio to exceed the current expense limitation. Reimbursement by the Fund of amounts previously waived or reimbursed by the Adviser is not permitted except as provided for in the expense limitation agreement.

Example

This Example is intended to help you to 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 sell all of your shares at the end of those time periods. It assumes a 5% return each year and no change in expenses, and any expense limitation or fee waivers that may apply for the periods indicated above under “Fees and Expenses.” 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
Class A Shares	$685	$989	$1,314	$2,234
Class C Shares	293	672	1,177	2,567
Class R6 Shares	82	333	604	1,377
Institutional Service Class Shares	93	367	662	1,502

You would pay the following expenses on the same investment if you did not sell your shares:

	1 Year	3 Years	5 Years	10 Years
Class C Shares	$193	$672	$1,177	$2,567

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 52.18% of the average value of its portfolio.

Summary Prospectus February 28, 2020 2 Nationwide WCM Focused Small Cap Fund

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund invests primarily in stocks of U.S. small-cap companies that the subadviser believes have improving earnings growth potential and attractive valuation. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of small-cap companies whose capitalization is within the range of the market capitalization of the companies in the Russell 2000® Index. The subadviser makes market capitalization determinations with respect to a security at the time of purchase of such security. In addition to holdings in primarily U.S. small-cap equity securities, the Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in foreign securities.

The subadviser uses an actively managed bottom-up stock selection process for choosing securities across the small-cap equity market universe. The subadviser selects securities using a process that seeks to identify companies that have all three of the following attributes: durable competitive advantages, stakeholder-friendly management, and trade at a discount to intrinsic value. The portfolio is constructed using the subadviser’s best ideas that are generated through multiple sources, including management discussions, industry knowledge, prior research and various ad-hoc screens. The subadviser’s goal is to uncover companies with sustained high return on invested capital, consistent growth in free cash flow and stable to growing market share. The subadviser assigns the highest portfolio security weights to companies in which the subadviser has the highest level of conviction. The subadviser is not constrained by the sector weights in the benchmark.

Although the Fund maintains a diversified portfolio, it nonetheless may invest in a limited number of issuers. The subadviser may sell a security as it reaches the subadviser’s estimate of the company’s value; if relative fundamentals deteriorate; or if alternative investments become sufficiently more attractive.

Principal Risks

The Fund cannot guarantee that it will achieve its investment objective.

As with any fund, the value of the Fund’s investments—and therefore, the value of Fund shares—may fluctuate. These changes may occur because of:

Equity securities risk– stock markets are volatile. The price of an equity security fluctuates based on changes in a company’s financial condition and overall market and economic conditions.

Market and selection risks – market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. Selection risk is the risk that the securities selected by the Fund’s subadviser will underperform the

markets, the relevant indexes or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies.

Smaller company risk – smaller companies are usually less stable in price and less liquid than larger, more established companies. Smaller companies are more vulnerable than larger companies to adverse business and economic developments and may have more limited resources. Therefore, they generally involve greater risk.

Foreign securities risk – foreign securities may be more volatile, harder to price and less liquid than U.S. securities. The prices of foreign securities may be further affected by other factors, such as changes in the exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the securities are traded.

Limited portfolio holdings risk – because the Fund may hold large positions in a smaller number of securities an increase or decrease in the value of such securities may have a greater impact on the Fund’s value and total return. Funds that invest in a relatively small number of securities may be subject to greater volatility than a more diversified investment.

Loss of money is a risk of investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.

Performance

The Fund has adopted the historical performance of the HighMark Small Cap Core Fund, a former series of HighMark Funds (the “Predecessor Fund”) as the result of a reorganization in which the Fund acquired all of the assets, subject to the liabilities, of the Predecessor Fund on September 16, 2013. The returns presented for periods prior to September 16, 2013 reflect the performance of the Predecessor Fund. At the time of the reorganization, the Fund and the Predecessor Fund had substantially similar investment goals and strategies.

The following bar chart and table can help you evaluate the Fund’s potential risks. The bar chart shows how the Fund’s annual total returns have varied from year to year. These returns do not reflect the impact of sales charges. If sales charges were included, the annual total returns would be lower than those shown. The table compares the Fund’s average annual total returns to the returns of a broad-based securities index. Remember, however, that past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily indicative of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at no cost by visiting nationwide.com/mutualfunds or by calling 800-848-0920.

Summary Prospectus February 28, 2020 3 Nationwide WCM Focused Small Cap Fund

Annual Total Returns – Class A Shares
(Years Ended December 31,)

Highest Quarter:	17.40%	–	4th qtr. of 2010
Lowest Quarter:	-23.96%	–	3rd qtr. of 2011

After-tax returns are shown for Class A shares only and will vary for other classes. After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect state and local taxes. Your actual after-tax return depends on your personal tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors in tax-advantaged arrangements, such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) plans or certain other employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Historical performance for Class A, Class C and Institutional Service Class shares is based on the previous performance of Class A, Class C and Fiduciary Class Shares, respectively, of the Predecessor Fund.

The inception date for Class R6 shares is September 18, 2013. Therefore, pre-inception historical performance of Class R6 shares is based on the previous performance of the Predecessor Fund’s Fiduciary Class Shares. Performance for Class R6 shares has not been adjusted to reflect that share class’s lower expenses than those of the Predecessor Fund’s Fiduciary Class Shares.

Average Annual Total Returns
(For the Periods Ended December 31, 2019)

	1 Year	5 Years	10 Years
Class A Shares – Before Taxes	21.18%	7.99%	13.04%
Class A Shares – After Taxes on Distributions	19.91%	3.70%	10.77%
Class A Shares – After Taxes on Distributions and Sales of Shares	13.43%	4.57%	9.97%
Class C Shares – Before Taxes	26.55%	8.45%	12.90%
Class R6 Shares – Before Taxes	28.99%	9.66%	14.06%
Institutional Service Class Shares – Before Taxes	28.86%	9.56%	14.00%
Russell 2000® Index (The Index does not pay sales charges, fees, expenses or taxes.)	25.52%	8.23%	11.83%

Portfolio Management

Investment Adviser

Nationwide Fund Advisors

Subadviser

WCM Investment Management, LLC

Portfolio Managers

Portfolio Manager	Title	Length of Service with Fund
Jonathon Detter, CFA	Portfolio Manager & Business Analyst	Since 2017
Anthony B. Glickhouse, CFA	Portfolio Manager & Business Analyst	Since 2017
Patrick McGee, CFA	Portfolio Manager & Business Analyst	Since 2017

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

Minimum Initial Investment
Class A, Class C: $2,000
Class R6: $1,000,000
Institutional Service Class: $50,000
Automatic Asset Accumulation Plan (Class A, Class C): $0*
* Provided each monthly purchase is at least $50

Minimum Additional Investment
Class A, Class C: $100
Class R6, Institutional Service Class: no minimum
Automatic Asset Accumulation Plan (Class A, Class C): $50

In general, you can buy or sell (redeem) shares of the Fund through your broker-dealer or financial intermediary, or by

Summary Prospectus February 28, 2020 4 Nationwide WCM Focused Small Cap Fund

mail or phone on any business day. You can generally pay for shares by check or wire.

To Purchase and Sell (Redeem) Fund Shares
Mail: Nationwide Funds P.O. Box 701 Milwaukee, WI 53201-0701	Overnight: Nationwide Funds 615 East Michigan Street Third Floor Milwaukee, WI 53202	Website: nationwide.com/ mutualfunds
Phone: 800-848-0920 (toll free). Representatives are available 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

Tax Information

The Fund’s distributions are taxable, and generally will be taxed as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions may be taxed as ordinary income when withdrawn from the tax-advantaged account.

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

Summary Prospectus February 28, 2020 5 Nationwide WCM Focused Small Cap Fund

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Summary Prospectus February 28, 2020 6 Nationwide WCM Focused Small Cap Fund