NORTHERN FUNDS Northern Engage360^TM Fund

Summary Prospectus   |   July 31, 2021 Shares Class: NENGX

Before you invest, you may want to review the Fund’s complete Prospectus, which contains more information about the Fund and its risks. You can find the Fund’s complete Prospectus, reports to shareholders, and other information about the Fund online at www.northernfunds.com/prospectus. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800-595-9111 or by sending an e-mail request to northern-funds@ntrs.com. If you purchase shares of the Fund through a financial intermediary (such as a bank or a broker-dealer), the complete Prospectus and other information are also available from your financial intermediary. The Fund’s complete Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated July 31, 2021, as supplemented, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus and may be obtained, free of charge, at the website, phone number or e-mail address noted above.

INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

The Fund seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation through a diversified portfolio of global equity securities. Any income received is incidental to this objective.

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 (within 30 days of 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		0.68%
Other Expenses		0.09%
Transfer Agent Fees		0.04%
Other Operating Expenses		0.05%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses		0.77%
Expense Reimbursement(1)		(0.07)%
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Expense Reimbursement(1)		0.70%

⁽¹⁾   Northern Trust Investments, Inc. has contractually agreed to reimburse a portion of the operating expenses of the Fund (other than Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and extraordinary expenses) to the extent the “Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses” exceed 0.70%. This contractual limitation may not be terminated before July 31, 2022 without the approval of the Fund’s 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		$72		$239		$421		$948

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 portfolio operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was 41.71 % of the average value of its portfolio.

PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES

In seeking long-term capital appreciation, the Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) in equity securities of companies listed on a domestic or foreign exchange. Under normal circumstances the Fund will invest at least 40%, and may invest up to 100%, of its net assets in the equity securities of companies economically tied to a foreign (non-U.S.) country, including emerging and frontier market countries. Emerging and frontier market countries are considered by the Fund’s investment adviser and sub-advisers to be those countries classified as such by the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, or the United Nations and other similar agencies. The Fund may invest in issuers with market capitalizations in all ranges, including small-, medium- and large-capitalization companies.

Although the Fund generally expects to be invested in equity securities, it also may invest in derivatives, including forward foreign currency exchange contracts and futures contracts, for hedging purposes or to gain exposure to certain countries.

The Fund utilizes a “multi-manager” approach whereby the Fund’s assets are allocated to one or more sub-advisers, in percentages determined at the discretion of the Fund’s investment adviser. The Fund’s investment adviser will select sub-advisers based on a variety of factors (as noted below) and a demonstrated commitment to advancing and promoting diversity and inclusion within their organization and through their business practices (“Diversity and Inclusion Criteria”). The Fund’s investment adviser uses a screening process to

NF SUM ENGAGE (7/21) SUMMARY PROSPECTUS 1 NORTHERN ENGAGE360^TM FUND

identify sub-advisers that satisfy its Diversity and Inclusion Criteria, which are based on a variety of factors including but not limited to employee composition, ownership composition, community engagement and supplier diversity. The Diversity and Inclusion Criteria are not a criteria for the Fund’s investments. Each sub-adviser acts independently from the others and utilizes its own distinct investment style in selecting securities. However, each sub-adviser must operate within the constraints of the Fund’s investment objective, strategies and restrictions.

When determining the allocations and reallocations to sub-advisers, the Fund’s investment adviser will consider a variety of factors, including but not limited to the sub-adviser’s style, historical performance, and the characteristics of each sub-adviser’s allocated assets (including capitalization, growth and profitability measures, valuation metrics, economic sector exposures, and earnings and volatility statistics). The Fund will not focus on a particular investment style, and will be invested across investment styles. The Fund’s investment adviser seeks, through its selection of sub-advisers and its allocation determinations, to reduce portfolio volatility and provide an attractive combination of risk and return for the Fund.

From time to time the Fund may focus its investments (i.e., invest more than 15% of its total assets) in one or more particular sectors. As of March 31, 2021, the Fund focused its investments in the financial and information technology sectors.

The sub-advisers may engage in active trading, and will not consider portfolio turnover a limiting factor in making investment decisions for the Fund.

PRINCIPAL RISKS

As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund’s performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund’s net asset value (“NAV”), total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Each risk noted below is considered a principal risk of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears. The significance of each risk factor below may change over time and you should review each risk factor carefully.

MARKET RISK is the risk that the value of the Fund’s investments may increase or decrease in response to expected, real or perceived economic, political or financial events in the U.S. or global markets. The frequency and magnitude of such changes in value cannot be predicted. Certain securities and other investments held by the Fund may experience increased volatility, illiquidity, or other potentially adverse effects in response to changing market conditions, inflation, changes in interest rates, lack of liquidity in the bond or equity markets, volatility in the equity markets, market disruptions caused by local or regional events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness (including epidemics and pandemics) or other public health issues, recessions or other events or adverse investor sentiment or other political, regulatory, economic and social developments, and developments that impact specific economic sectors, industries or segments of the market. These risks may be magnified if certain events or developments adversely interrupt the global supply chain; in these and other circumstances, such risks might affect companies worldwide due to increasingly interconnected global economies and financial markets. Market risk includes the risk that a particular style of investing, such as growth or value, may underperform the market generally.

FOREIGN SECURITIES RISK is the risk that investing in foreign (non-U.S.) securities may result in the Fund experiencing more rapid and extreme changes in value than a fund that invests exclusively in securities of U.S. companies, due to less liquid markets, and adverse economic, political, diplomatic, financial, and regulatory factors. Foreign governments may impose limitations on foreigners’ ownership of interests in local issuers, restrictions on the ability to repatriate assets, and may also impose taxes. Any of these events could cause the value of the Fund’s investments to decline. Foreign banks, agents and securities depositories that hold the Fund’s foreign assets may be subject to little or no regulatory oversight over, or independent evaluation, of their operations. Additional costs associated with investments in foreign securities may include higher custodial fees than those applicable to domestic custodial arrangements and transaction costs of foreign currency conversions. Unless the Fund has hedged its foreign currency exposure, foreign securities risk also involves the risk of negative foreign currency rate fluctuations, which may cause the value of securities denominated in such foreign currency (or other instruments through which the Fund has exposure to foreign currencies) to decline in value. Currency exchange rates may fluctuate significantly over short periods of time. Currency hedging strategies, if used, are not always successful. For instance, forward foreign currency exchange contracts, if used by the Fund, could reduce performance if there are unanticipated changes in currency exchange rates.

EMERGING MARKETS RISK is the risk that emerging markets are generally subject to greater market volatility, political, social and economic instability, uncertain trading markets and more governmental limitations on foreign investments than more developed markets. In addition, companies operating in emerging markets may be subject to lower trading volumes and greater price volatility than companies in more developed markets. Emerging market economies may be based on only a few industries, may be highly vulnerable to changes in local and global trade conditions, and may suffer from extreme and volatile debt burdens or inflation rates. Companies in emerging market countries generally may be subject to less stringent regulatory, disclosure, financial reporting, accounting, auditing and recordkeeping standards than companies in more developed countries. As a result, information, including financial information, about such companies may be less available and reliable, which can impede the Fund’s ability to evaluate such companies. Securities law and the enforcement of systems of taxation in many emerging market countries may change quickly and unpredictably, and the ability to bring and enforce actions (including bankruptcy, confiscatory taxation, expropriation, nationalization of a company’s assets, restrictions on foreign ownership of local companies, restrictions on withdrawing assets from the country, protectionist measures and practices such as share blocking), or to obtain information needed to pursue or enforce such actions, may be limited. Investments in emerging market securities may be subject to additional transaction costs, delays in settlement procedures, unexpected market closures, and lack of timely information.

FRONTIER MARKETS RISK is the risk that frontier countries generally have smaller economies or less developed capital

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markets than traditional emerging markets and, as a result, the risk of investing in emerging market countries are magnified in frontier countries.

DERIVATIVES RISK is the risk that derivatives may pose risks in addition to and greater than those associated with investing directly in securities, currencies and other instruments, may be illiquid or less liquid, more volatile, more difficult to value and leveraged so that small changes in the value of the underlying instrument may produce disproportionate losses to the Fund. Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party to the transaction will not perform its contractual obligations. The use of derivatives is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with investments in more traditional securities and instruments.

∎ FORWARD FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE CONTRACTS RISK is the risk that, if forward prices increase, a loss will occur to the extent that the agreed upon purchase price of the currency exceeds the price of the currency that was agreed to be sold.

∎ FUTURES CONTRACTS RISK is the risk that there will be imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the Fund’s securities and the price of futures contracts, which may result in the strategy not working as intended; the possible inability of the Fund to sell or close out a futures contract at the desired time or price; losses due to unanticipated market movements, which potentially are unlimited; and the possible inability of the Fund’s investment adviser to correctly predict the direction of securities’ prices, interest rates, currency exchange rates and other economic factors, which may make the Fund’s returns more volatile or increase the risk of loss.

MULTI-MANAGER RISK is the risk that the sub-advisers’ investment styles will not always be complementary or that the investment adviser’s allocation of assets amongst sub-advisers will not achieve the intended result, which could negatively impact the performance of the Fund.

MANAGEMENT RISK is the risk that a strategy used by the Fund’s investment adviser or sub-advisers may fail to produce the intended results or that imperfections, errors or limitations in the tools and data used by the investment adviser may cause unintended results.

SECTOR RISK is the risk that companies in similar businesses may be similarly affected by particular economic or market events, which may, in certain circumstances, cause the value of securities of all companies in a particular sector of the market to decrease.

∎ FINANCIAL SECTOR RISK is the risk that the financial sector can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, government regulation, the rate of corporate and consumer debt defaulted, price competitions and the availability and cost of capital, among other factors.

∎ TECHNOLOGY SECTOR RISK is the risk that securities of technology companies may be subject to greater price volatility than securities of companies in other sectors. These securities may fall in and out of favor with investors rapidly, which may cause sudden selling and dramatically lower market prices. Technology securities also may be affected adversely by changes in technology, consumer and business purchasing patterns, government regulation and/or obsolete products or services.

SMALL AND MID CAP STOCK RISK is the risk that stocks of small and mid-sized companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies. Small and mid-sized companies may have limited product lines or financial resources, and may be dependent upon a particular niche of the market. The securities of small companies may trade less frequently and in lower volume than the securities of larger companies, which could lead to higher transaction costs. Generally, the smaller the company size, the greater the risk.

VALUATION RISK is the risk that the sale price the Fund could receive for a portfolio security may differ from the Fund’s valuation of the security, particularly for securities that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology. Fair valuation of the Fund’s investments involves subjective judgment. In addition, the value of the securities in the Fund’s portfolio may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund’s shares.

As with any mutual fund, it is possible to lose money on an investment in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of any bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, any other government agency, or The Northern Trust Company, its affiliates, subsidiaries or any other bank.

FUND PERFORMANCE

The bar chart and table that follow provide an indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing (A) changes in the performance of the Fund from year to year, and (B) how the average annual total returns of the Fund compares to those of a broad-based securities market index that reflects the investment instruments in which the Fund invests.

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 for the Fund is available and may be obtained on the Fund’s website at northerntrust.com/funds or by calling 800-595-9111, will provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund.

CALENDAR YEAR TOTAL RETURN*

* Year to date total return for the six months ended June 30, 2021 is 11.82%. For the periods shown in the bar chart above, the highest quarterly return was 19.93% in the second quarter of 2020, and the lowest quarterly return was (20.54)% in the first quarter of 2020.

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AVERAGE ANNUAL TOTAL RETURN

(For the periods ended December 31, 2020)

	Inception Date		1-Year			Since Inception
Shares Class		11/20/17
Returns before taxes				19.01	%		10.09	%
Returns after taxes on distributions				18.75	%		9.73	%
Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares				11.44	%		7.76	%
MSCI ACWI Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes)				16.25	%		10.84	%

After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor’s tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through tax-advantaged arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.

In calculating the federal income taxes due on redemptions, capital gains taxes resulting from redemptions are subtracted from the redemption proceeds and the tax benefits from capital losses resulting from the redemptions are added to the redemption proceeds.

MANAGEMENT

INVESTMENT ADVISER, PORTFOLIO MANAGERS AND SUB-ADVISERS. Northern Trust Investments, Inc. (“NTI”), an indirect subsidiary of Northern Trust Corporation, serves as the investment adviser of the Northern Engage360^™ Fund. Christopher E. Vella, CFA, Senior Vice President of NTI, and Jessica K. Hart, Senior Vice President of NTI, are the portfolio managers of the Fund. Ariel Investments, LLC, Aristotle Capital Management, LLC, ARK Investment Management, LLC, EARNEST Partners, LLC, Mar Vista Investment Partners, LLC and Strategic Global Advisors, LLC, each serves as sub-adviser of the Fund. The Northern Trust Company, an affiliate of NTI, serves as transfer agent, custodian and sub-administrator to the Fund.

PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES

You may purchase Shares Class shares of the Fund by opening an account directly with Northern Funds (the “Trust”) with a minimum initial investment of $2,500 in the Fund ($500 for an IRA; $250 under the Automatic Investment Plan; and $500 for employees of Northern Trust and its affiliates). The minimum subsequent investment is $50 (except for reinvestments of distributions for which there is no minimum). The Fund reserves the right to waive these minimums. You may also purchase Shares Class shares of the Fund through an account at Northern Trust (or an affiliate) or an authorized intermediary.

If you purchase, sell (redeem) or exchange Shares Class shares through an authorized intermediary, you may be required to pay a commission and/or other forms of compensation to the intermediary. In addition, an authorized intermediary may impose different investment minimums than those set forth above. The Fund is not responsible for any investment minimums imposed by authorized intermediaries or for notifying shareholders of any changes to them.

On any business day, you may sell (redeem) or exchange shares through your account by contacting your Northern Trust account representative or authorized intermediary. If you purchase shares directly from the Trust, you may sell (redeem) or exchange your shares in one of the following ways:

∎ By Mail – Send a written request to: Northern Funds, P.O. Box 75986, Chicago, Illinois 60675-5986.

∎ By Telephone – Authorize the telephone privilege on your New Account Application. Call 800-595-9111 to use the telephone privilege.

∎ By Wire – Authorize wire redemptions on your New Account Application and have proceeds sent by federal wire transfer to a previously designated bank account (the minimum redemption amount by this method is $250). You will be charged $15 for each wire redemption unless the designated bank account is maintained at Northern Trust or an affiliated bank. Call 800-595-9111 for instructions.

∎ By Systematic Withdrawal – If you own shares of the Fund with a minimum value of $10,000, you may elect to have a fixed sum redeemed at regular intervals and distributed in cash or reinvested in one or more other funds of the Trust. Call 800-595-9111 for an application form and additional information. The minimum amount is $250 per withdrawal.

∎ By Exchange – Complete the Exchange Privilege section of your New Account Application to exchange shares of one fund in the Trust for shares of another fund in the Trust. Shares being exchanged must have a value of at least $2,500. Call 800-595-9111 for more information.

∎ By Internet – You may initiate transactions between Northern Trust banking and Fund accounts by using Northern Trust Private Passport. For details and to sign up for this service, go to northerntrust.com/funds or contact your Relationship Manager.

TAX INFORMATION

The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, capital gains, or a combination of the three, unless you are investing through a tax-exempt or tax-advantaged arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account. Distributions may be taxable upon withdrawal from tax-advantaged accounts.

PAYMENTS TO BROKERS-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.

NORTHERN ENGAGE360^TM FUND 4 SUMMARY PROSPECTUS