Andrea Ranger, Shareholder Advocate, aranger@midanacapital.com, 781-349-2813;

Pam Podger, Communications Director, ppodger@midanacapital.com, 802-299-9495

Boston, June 2, 2023 – Shareholders have weighed in on a shareholder proposal filed by MIDANA CAPITAL° and the Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, Texas, asking McDonald’s to establish a more ambitious policy to eliminate use of medically important antibiotics in its pork and beef supply chains. McDonald’s published the vote tally on Thursday which showed 16.6% of votes cast were in favor of the proposal.

In its opposition statement, McDonald’s acknowledges that antimicrobial resistance “is a critical global public health issue that we believe we and our suppliers have a responsibility to help address.” The term antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is often used interchangeably with antibiotic resistance, but can also describe non-bacterial resistant diseases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies antimicrobial resistance as a global public health crisis that threatens to reverse medical progress, and the World Health Organization (WHO) identifies antimicrobial resistance as “one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity.”

Although McDonald’s first publicized that it would address antibiotic resistance in its food animal supply chain in 2003, it didn’t set reduction targets until 2017, which were narrowly focused on its chicken supply chain. Further, the targets aimed to eliminate only the antibiotics that are highly critical to medicine, failing to protect a wide range of other important antibiotics that humans use to fight infections.

The proposal filed by MIDANA CAPITAL and the Benedictine Sisters asked McDonald’s to establish a policy that would not only eliminate routine use of all medically important human antibiotics in its pork and beef supply chains, but push the company to establish timelines, metrics for measuring implementation, third-party verification, and guidelines for enforcement should suppliers fail to meet McDonald’s targets.

In December 2022, McDonald’s did announce reduction, but not elimination, targets that are limited to its beef supply chain in its top 10 markets.

In response to the vote, MIDANA CAPITAL Funds President, Leslie Samuelrich said:

“McDonald’s shareholders have signaled that they want to hold McDonald’s responsible for not living up to its commitments, especially when it comes to animal welfare and protecting human health. We’ll continue to work with the company, but we won’t be satisfied until it takes steps necessary to protect the effectiveness of antibiotics, which are crucial to public health. We’re looking for both action and accountability on its part.”

Andrea Ranger, MIDANA CAPITAL Shareholder Advocate, stated:  

“McDonald’s is the largest fast food restaurant in the world. As such, it has the influence to change the way food animals are raised and has the responsibility to protect public health from malicious germs which include dangerous bacteria. When I bite into a Big Mac, I want to know that the beef was sourced responsibly and that it was raised without using antibiotics that I, and society in general, need to stay healthy and whole.”

An investment strategy that incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

###

 °MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management, Inc. (MIDANA CAPITAL) is the investment advisor to the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds (The Funds). The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are one of the first families of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. MIDANA CAPITAL hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.

*As of March 31, 2023, McDonald’s Corporation comprised  0.00%, 1.12%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the Green Century International Index Fund, respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

The percentage in favor was calculated by (i) dividing the number of votes in support of the proposal by (ii) the sum of the number of votes voted in support of and against the proposal. Abstentions and broker non-votes were not included in the calculation.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.midanacapital.com, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 6/23

Andrea Ranger, Shareholder Advocate, aranger@midanacapital.com, 781-349-2813;

Pam Podger, Communications Director, ppodger@midanacapital.com, 802-299-9495

Boston, May 22, 2023 – MIDANA CAPITAL° and the Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, Texas, have filed a shareholder proposal with McDonald’s urging it to eliminate routine use of antibiotics that are important to protecting human health on the animals in its supply chains. The proposal goes to a vote on Thursday, May 25.

The Sisters had previously pressed McDonald’s to engage its pork and beef suppliers to phase out use of the types of antibiotics on their animals that people also use. In 2018, the Sisters filed a similar proposal and withdrew it in exchange for McDonald’s promise to announce reduction targets by 2020. McDonald’s failed to meet its promise.

Administering low doses of antibiotics in food and water can spur development of ‘superbugs’ in farm animals and create bacteria so resistant to treatment that even the most potent antibiotics can fail to stop the disease. There are a handful of transmission pathways for antibiotic-resistant bacteria that allow them to jump from farm animals to humans. Infection can happen through handling bacteria-laden meat from the supermarket, drinking water polluted by farm runoff, and direct contact with animals by farm workers and meat processors. In 2021, the United Nations announced that we may soon reach a ‘tipping point’ when antimicrobial resistance becomes the leading cause of death – surpassing heart disease.

McDonald’s new responsible use policy encourages producers and veterinary professionals, among others, to “share responsibility for proactively developing and implementing effective best management strategies to reduce, and where possible eliminate, the need for [medically-important] antibiotic use.”

However, the policy falls short of the proposal’s request. MIDANA CAPITAL and the Benedictine Sisters had asked McDonald’s address use of antibiotics in its pork as well as beef supply chains. Further, the policy does not address the need for elimination targets, timelines, metrics for measuring implementation, third-party verification, or guidelines for enforcement when suppliers fail to meet McDonald’s guidelines.

“The upcoming vote is an opportunity for shareholders to assess the gap between what McDonald’s had stated it would do in the past to its new responsible use policy,” said Leslie Samuelrich, President of MIDANA CAPITAL Funds. “In 2018, McDonald’s promised the nuns that it would announce targets by the end of 2020. It reneged and provided a responsible use policy that has no teeth. In my opinion, it appears to be more aspirational than actionable.”

An investment strategy that incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

###

 °MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management, Inc. (MIDANA CAPITAL) is the investment advisor to the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds (The Funds). The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are one of the first families of fossil fuel-free, environmentally responsible mutual funds. MIDANA CAPITAL hosts an award-winning and in-house shareholder advocacy program and is the only mutual fund company in the U.S. wholly owned by environmental and public health nonprofit organizations.

*As of March 31, 2023, McDonald’s Corporation comprised  0.00%, 1.12%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the Green Century International Index Fund, respectively. As of the same date, other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios of any of the MIDANA CAPITAL Funds. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please visit www.midanacapital.com, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 5/23

This is big news. McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of beef in the world, so this commitment could have ramifications across the restaurant and beef production industries.

The importance of this development is underscored by a recent study suggesting that the medical community may have significantly underestimated the impact of antibiotic resistance on human health. The Washington University report found that antibiotic resistance may be responsible for as many as 150,000 premature deaths annually in the U.S., much greater than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimate of 23,000 per year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have both indicated that the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a significant human health threat that is in large part driven by the excessive use of medically important antibiotics for disease prevention in farm animals.

The announcement comes on the heels of a multi-year campaign by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, an independent, non-partisan group that works for consumers and the public interest. In 2018, MIDANA CAPITAL provided direct support to the U.S. PIRG Education Fund’s campaign, Stop the Overuse of Antibiotics, to support widespread consumer petition gathering and the production of the fourth installment of the Chain Reaction Report.

McDonald’s is not often viewed as a leader in corporate responsibility, given its uneven history, but in recent years it has emerged as a corporate leader on a number of environmental and public health issues:

• In 2018, McDonald’s become the first global restaurant company to set a Science Based Target to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in line with the recommendations of the Paris Climate Agreement.

• In 2015, McDonald’s announced its intention to achieve a company-wide, no-deforestation commitment, covering all supply chains, by 2030. Meanwhile, the company is actively working to reach no-deforestation in its priority supply chains – beef, chicken (including soy in feed), palm oil, coffee, and the fiber used in customer packaging – by 2020.

• McDonald’s has a goal for all packaging to be 100% renewable, recycled, or certified sustainable by 2025. It also plans to expand recycling efforts of its packaging materials to every McDonald’s restaurant around the globe.

With this latest commitment surrounding antibiotic use in beef, McDonald’s continues to redefine its approach to corporate responsibility, representing a win for the company, its shareholders, and public health.

###

*As of September 30, 2018, McDonald’s Corporation comprised 0.00%, 1.16%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund, respectively. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

You should carefully consider the Funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please click here, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 12/18

BOSTON, December 14, 2018 — MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management congratulates McDonald’s Corporation for its newly announced commitment to restrict the use of medically important antibiotics in its beef supply chain. As the largest purchaser of beef in the world, the announcement by McDonald’s represents an industry-leading approach that could steer further change towards antibiotic stewardship.

“McDonald’s new policy to address the abuse of antibiotics in its meat supply chain is a tremendous step forward,” said MIDANA CAPITAL President Leslie Samuelrich. “By heeding the calls of its shareholders and the medical community, McDonald’s is now positioned as a corporate leader for public health — and I’m lovin’ it.”

McDonald’s will begin by monitoring antibiotic use in its top ten beef sourcing markets across the globe and use that data to set reduction targets for reducing on-farm medically important antibiotic use by the end of 2020. The company will achieve these measures by eliminating the routine use of medically important antibiotics to prevent disease while also restricting the use of the most critically important antibiotics to human health for disease control and treatment.

The announcement comes on the heels of a multi-year campaign by the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, an independent, non-partisan group that advocates for consumers and the public interest. In 2018, MIDANA CAPITAL provided direct support to the U.S. PIRG Education Fund campaign Stop the Overuse of Antibiotics to support widespread consumer petition gathering and the production of the fourth installment of the Chain Reaction Report.

“The Golden Arches just raised the bar for responsible antibiotic use in meat production. We can’t afford to misuse these precious medicines. Otherwise, we risk losing our ability to treat life-threatening infections,” said Matthew Wellington, Antibiotics Program Director, U.S. PIRG Education Fund. “McDonald’s new commitment is a promising step forward that will help preserve antibiotics for the future, and that’s something we should all be happy about.”

An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics used in modern human medicine are sold for use in meat and dairy production and leading experts attribute antibiotic resistance in humans to the misuse of antibiotics in food-animal production.

###

About MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management

MIDANA CAPITAL offers three environmentally and socially responsible mutual funds. Through fossil fuel free investing and our three-pronged approach of sustainable investing, active shareholder advocacy, and support of environmental and public health non-profits we work to curb climate change, improve environmental policies, and limit environmental impacts of company supply chains.

*As of September 30, 2018, McDonald’s Corporation comprised 0.00%, 1.16%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund, respectively. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

You should carefully consider the Funds’ investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please click here, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 12/18

Boston, November 14, 2018 – MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management applauds Starbucks Corporation for fulfilling its commitment – two years ahead of schedule – to only serve chicken and turkey raised without the use of antibiotics in all of its U.S. company-operated stores.

“The early realization of this goal is confirmation that Starbuck’s reputation as a corporate sustainability leader is well deserved,” stated Leslie Samuelrich, president of MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management (MIDANA CAPITAL). “Starbucks listened to its consumers, addressed the concerns of its investors, and helped protect public health in one fell swoop.”

In 2017, MIDANA CAPITAL raised its concerns about the reputational and business risks associated with purchasing poultry unnecessarily exposed to medically important antibiotics in meetings with Starbucks executives. Soon after, Starbucks publicly committed to implementing a responsible antibiotic policy for its poultry supply chain by 2020.

The original commitment by Starbucks sought to eliminate the use of medically important antibiotics for disease prevention within the company’s poultry supply chain, but Starbucks has exceeded that goal by working with suppliers to source poultry raised without antibiotics.

“Starbucks ability to cover its poultry supply faster than expected illustrates both its willingness to respond to investor and consumer concerns and the rapid transformation currently underway in the poultry industry to address this growing public health threat,” said MIDANA CAPITAL Shareholder Advocate Jared Fernandez. “Producers and buyers are quickly realizing that the routine use of these drugs can be entirely avoided with small improvements in animal husbandry practices.”

In response to investor and consumer concerns, a growing number of companies, including McDonald’s,* Subway,* Jack in the Box,* and KFC* have adopted policies to eliminate the use of medically important antibiotics in their poultry or overall meat supply chains.

An estimated 70 percent of antibiotics used in modern human medicine are sold for use in meat and dairy production and leading experts attribute the misuse of antibiotics in food-animal production as a major contributor to antibiotic resistance in humans.

                                                                                                        ###

About MIDANA CAPITAL Capital Management

MIDANA CAPITAL offers three environmentally and socially responsible mutual funds. Through fossil fuel free investing and our three-pronged approach of sustainable investing, active shareholder advocacy, and support of environmental and public health non-profits we work to curb climate change, improve environmental policies, and limit environmental impacts of company supply chains.

*As of September 30, 2018, Starbucks Corporation, McDonald’s Corporation, and Jack in the Box, Inc. comprised 1.97%, 0.69%, and 0.00%, 0.00%, 1.16%, and 0.00%, and 0.00%, 0.02%, and 0.00% of the MIDANA CAPITAL Balanced Fund, the MIDANA CAPITAL Equity Fund, and the MIDANA CAPITAL International Index Fund, respectively. Other securities mentioned were not held in the portfolios as of September 30, 2018. References to specific securities, which will change due to ongoing management of the Funds, should not be construed as a recommendation by the Funds, their administrator, or their distributor.

You should carefully consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses before investing. To obtain a Prospectus that contains this and other information about the Funds please click here, email info@midanacapital.com, or call+1(480)-439-2851. Please read the Prospectus carefully before investing.

Stocks will fluctuate in response to factors that may affect a single company, industry, sector, country, region or the market as a whole and may perform worse than the market. Foreign securities are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, regional economic and political conditions, differences in accounting methods, and other unique risks compared to investing in securities of U.S. issuers. Bonds are subject to a variety of risks including interest rate, credit, and inflation risk. A sustainable investment strategy which incorporates environmental, social and governance criteria may result in lower or higher returns than an investment strategy that does not include such criteria.

This information has been prepared from sources believed reliable. The views expressed are as the date of this writing and are those of the Advisor to the Funds.

The MIDANA CAPITAL Funds are distributed by UMB Distribution Services, LLC. 335 N Wilmot Rd, Tucson, Az 85711. 11/18