The Fund employs a “passive management” – or indexing – investment approach designed to track the performance of the Index. The Fund generally uses a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally will invest in a sample of the securities in the Index whose risk, return and other characteristics resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Index as a whole. Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Fund’s total assets (exclusive of collateral held from securities lending) will be invested in component securities of the Index and investments that have economic characteristics that are substantially identical to the economic characteristics of such component securities.

The Index is a fundamentally weighted index that consists of the small-capitalization segment of dividend-paying U.S. common stocks with growth characteristics. The starting screening universe for the Index is the constituents of the WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Dividend Index, which consists of the bottom 25% of the market capitalization of the WisdomTree U.S. Dividend Index, which defines the dividend-paying universe of companies in the U.S. stock market, after the 300 largest companies have been removed. As of June 30, 2023, the Index had a market capitalization range from $22.3 million to $12.5 billion, with an average market capitalization of $1.5 billion. To be eligible for inclusion in the Index, a company must meet the following criteria as of the annual Index screening date: (i) payment of regular cash dividends on shares of common stock during the preceding 12 months; (ii) market capitalization of at least $100 million; (iii) median daily dollar trading volume of at least $100,000 for the preceding three months; and (iv) an earnings yield greater than the dividend yield. From this starting universe, the Index is comprised of the top 50% of companies with the best combined rank of certain growth and quality factors, specifically: medium-term earnings growth expectations, return on equity, and return on assets.

The Index is dividend weighted annually to reflect the proportionate share of the aggregate cash dividends each component company is projected to pay in the coming year, based on the most recently declared dividend per share, a measure of fundamental value. Generally, companies projected to pay more dividends are more heavily weighted.

On the Index’s annual screening date, the maximum weight of any security in the Index is capped at 2% and the Index caps the weight of components exposed to a single sector (except for the real estate sector) at 25%. The weight of components exposed to the real estate sector is capped at 10%. The Index also may adjust the weight of individual components on the annual screening date based on certain quantitative thresholds or limits tied to key metrics of a component security, such as its market capitalization and trading volume. To the extent the Index reduces an individual component’s weight, the excess weight will be reallocated pro rata among the other components. Similarly, if the Index increases a component’s weight, the weight of the other components will be reduced on a pro rata basis to contribute the weight needed for such increase. The weight of a sector or individual component in the Index may fluctuate above or below specified caps and thresholds, respectively, between screening dates in response to market conditions.

WisdomTree, Inc. (“WisdomTree”), as Index provider, currently uses the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®), a widely recognized industry classification methodology developed by MSCI, Inc. and Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC, to define companies within a given sector. The following sectors are included in the Index: communication services, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financials, health care, industrials, information technology, materials, real estate, and utilities. A sector is comprised of multiple industries. For example, the energy sector is comprised of companies in the energy equipment and services industry as well as the oil, gas and consumable fuels industry. As of June 30, 2023, companies in the financials, consumer discretionary and industrials sectors comprised a significant portion (i.e., in excess of 15% of the Index’s total weighting) of the Index; however, the Index’s sector exposure may change from time to time.

To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index.