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Wilmington Municipal Bond Fund
WILMINGTON MUNICIPAL BOND FUND SUMMARY
Investment Goal
The Fund seeks a high level of income exempt from federal income tax, consistent with the preservation of capital.
Fees and Expenses
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold the Fund’s Class A Shares and Class I Shares. You may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $100,000 in the Wilmington Funds. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial professional, in the Fund’s prospectus in the section entitled “How are shares priced?”.
Shareholder Fees
(Fees paid directly from your investment)
Shareholder Fees - Wilmington Municipal Bond Fund
Class A
Class I
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price) 4.50% none
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) none none
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Reinvested Dividends (and other Distributions) none none
Redemption Fee none none
Exchange Fee none none
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
(Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses - Wilmington Municipal Bond Fund
Class A
Class I
Management Fee 0.45% 0.45%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees 0.25% none
Other Expenses 0.40% 0.40%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 1.10% 0.85%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements [1] (0.36%) (0.36%)
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waiver/Expense Reimbursement 0.74% 0.49%
[1] The Fund’s Advisor, distributor and shareholder services provider have agreed to waive their fees and/or reimburse expenses so that the total annual fund operating expenses paid by the Fund’s Class A Shares and Class I Shares will not exceed 0.74% and 0.49%, respectively (not including the effects of taxes or other extraordinary expenses). This waiver may be amended or withdrawn after August 31, 2019, or with the agreement of the Fund’s Board of Trustees.
Example
This 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 $10,000 in the Fund’s Class A Shares and Class I Shares for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your Shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The costs for the Fund reflect the net expenses of the Fund that result from the fee waiver/expense reimbursement in the first year only. Although your actual costs and returns may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
Expense Example - Wilmington Municipal Bond Fund - USD ($)
1 Year
3 Years
5 Years
10 Years
Class A 522 750 996 1,699
Class I 50 235 436 1,016
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 79% of the average value of the portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies of the Fund
Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of the value of its net assets in municipal securities that provide interest exempt from federal income tax. However, the income on these securities may be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax (“AMT”). The Fund may invest up to 20% of its assets in other types of fixed income securities that provide income that is subject to federal income tax. The Fund generally invests in securities rated in the top four categories by a rating agency such as Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or Standard & Poor’s Corporation (“S&P”) or if unrated, determined by the investment advisor to be of comparable quality. The Fund seeks to maintain a weighted average maturity of three to ten years. However, the Fund has no maturity restrictions on individual issues, and the weighted average maturity of the Fund’s portfolio will vary depending on market conditions.

The Fund may invest more than 25% of its assets in securities relating to one political subdivision, such as any state or U.S. territory. The Fund may focus its investments in sectors of the municipal securities market, such as healthcare or housing. There are no limitations on the Fund’s investment in any one of the three general categories of municipal obligations: general obligation bonds, special revenue bonds and private activity bonds.

In selecting securities, the Fund’s investment advisor focuses on credit analysis, the relative values of different sectors of the market, geographic diversity and securities with different and potentially advantageous structures. The investment advisor seeks to construct a portfolio with substantially the same interest rate exposure as the Fund’s benchmark, and does not select securities based on forecasts of interest rates.
Principal Risks of Investing in the Fund
All mutual funds take investment risks. Therefore, it is possible to lose money by investing in the Fund. The primary factors that may reduce the Fund’s returns include:
  • Alternative Minimum Tax Risk. Although the interest received from municipal securities generally is exempt from federal income tax, the Fund may invest a portion of its total assets in municipal securities subject to the federal alternative minimum tax. Accordingly, investment in the Fund could cause shareholders to be subject to (or result in an increased liability under) the federal alternative minimum tax.
  • Call Risk. Issuers of securities may redeem the securities prior to maturity at a price below their current market value.
  • Changing Fixed Income Market Conditions Risk. The current historically low interest rate environment was created in part by the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) and certain foreign central banks keeping the federal funds and equivalent foreign rates at or near zero. There is a risk that interest rates will rise when the FRB and central banks raise these rates. This risk is heightened due to the potential “tapering” of the FRB’s quantitative easing program and other similar foreign central bank actions. This tapering and eventual increase in the federal funds and equivalent foreign rates may expose fixed income markets to heightened volatility and reduced liquidity for certain fixed income investments, particularly those with longer maturities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may also potentially lead to heightened volatility and reduced liquidity in the fixed income markets. As a result, the value of the Fund’s investments and share price may decline. Changes in central bank policies could also result in higher than normal shareholder redemptions, which could potentially increase portfolio turnover and the Fund’s transaction costs.
  • Credit Risk. There is a possibility that issuers of securities in which the Fund invests may default in the payment of interest or principal on the securities when due, which would cause the Fund to lose money.
  • Interest Rate Risk. The risk posed by the fact that prices of fixed income securities rise and fall inversely in response to interest rate changes. For instance, a rise in interest rate causes a fall in the value of a fixed income securities. In addition, this risk increases with the length of the maturity of the fixed income security. Accordingly, the yield earned by a Fund will vary with changes in interest rates. Also, when interest rates fall, the price of mortgage-backed securities may not rise to as great an extent as that of other fixed income securities. Duration is a measure of the expected life of a debt security that is used to determine the sensitivity of the security’s price to changes in interest rates. Generally, the longer the Fund’s duration, the more sensitive the Fund will be to changes in interest rates.
  • Liquidity Risk. The risk that certain securities may be difficult or impossible for a Fund to sell or dispose of at the price at which the Fund has valued the security.
  • Municipal Securities Risk. The Fund will likely be impacted by events tied to the overall municipal securities markets. Those markets can be volatile and significantly affected by unfavorable legislative or political developments and adverse changes in the financial conditions of municipal securities issuers and the economy. Further, a fund that invests in the securities of a particular bond market sector (e.g., healthcare, housing or one political subdivision) is subject to the risk that adverse circumstances will have a greater impact on the fund than a fund that does not make such sector investments. It is possible that economic, business or political developments or other changes affecting one security in the sector will affect other securities in that sector in the same manner, thereby increasing the risk of such investments.
  • Prepayment Risk. The risk that certain municipal securities may be paid off and proceeds delivered to a Fund earlier than anticipated. Prepayment risk is more prevalent during periods of falling interest rates.
  • Tax Risk. Failure of a municipal security to meet certain legal requirements may cause the interest received and distributed by the Fund to shareholders to be taxable, which could result in a decline in the security’s, and therefore the Fund’s, value.
As with any mutual fund investment, loss of money is a risk of investing. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit in a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
Performance Information
The returns presented for the Fund for periods prior to March 9, 2012 reflect the performance of a former series of WT Mutual Fund, also known as Wilmington Municipal Bond Fund (the “Predecessor Fund”). The Fund adopted the performance of 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. The Fund and the Predecessor Fund have substantially similar investment goals and strategies.

The bar chart and table immediately following show the variability of the Fund’s returns and are meant to provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year, with respect to its Class I Shares, and by showing how the Fund’s average annual total returns for 1, 5 and 10 years or the life of the Fund compare with those of broad measures of market performance. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.wilmingtonfunds.com.
Annual Total Returns – Class I Shares
Performance Over 10 Years
Bar Chart

Best Quarter

5.48%

9/30/2009

 

Worst Quarter

(3.50)%

12/31/2016

 


The Fund’s Class I Shares total return for the six-month period from January 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018 was (0.66)%. For Class A Shares the average annual total returns in the table below include the maximum Class A sales charge of 4.50%, which is normally deducted when you purchase shares.
Average Annual Total Returns
(For the periods ended December 31, 2017)
Average Annual Total Returns - Wilmington Municipal Bond Fund
1 Year
5 Years
10 Years
Class I Shares 4.12% 2.22% 3.83%
Class I Shares | Return After Taxes on Distributions 3.93% 1.95% 3.59%
Class I Shares | Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares 3.36% 2.14% 3.58%
Class A Shares (0.74%) 1.03% 3.10%
Standard & Poor’s Intermediate Municipal Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) 4.74% 2.79% 4.44%
After-tax performance is presented only for Class I Shares of the Fund. The after-tax returns for other Fund classes may vary. Actual after-tax returns depend on your tax situation and may differ from those shown in the preceding table. When after-tax returns are calculated, it is assumed that the shareholder was in the highest individual federal marginal income tax bracket at the time of each distribution of income or capital gains or upon redemption. State and local income taxes are not reflected in the calculations. Please note that after-tax returns are not relevant for a shareholder who holds Fund shares in a tax-advantaged account, such as an individual retirement account or a 401(k) plan.