BNY Mellon U.S. Equity Fund   

Summary Prospectus | March 29, 2024

Before you invest, you may want to review the fund's prospectus, which contains more information about the fund and its risks. You can find the fund's prospectus and other information about the fund, including the statement of additional information and most recent reports to shareholders, online at http://im.bnymellon.com/literaturecenter. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 1-800-373-9387 (inside the U.S. only) or by sending an e-mail request to info@bnymellon.com. The fund's prospectus and statement of additional information, dated March 29, 2024 (each as revised or supplemented), are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus.

The fund seeks long-term total return.

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and examples below. 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 or shares of other funds in the BNY Mellon Family of Funds that are subject to a sales charge. More information about sales charges, including these and other discounts and waivers, is available from your financial professional and in the Shareholder Guide section beginning on page 9 of the prospectus, in the Appendix on page A-1 of the prospectus and in the How to Buy Shares section and the Additional Information About How to Buy Shares section beginning on page II-1 and page III-1, respectively, of the fund's Statement of Additional Information.

^* Class A shares bought without an initial sales charge as part of an investment of $1 million or more may be charged a deferred sales charge of 1.00% if redeemed within one year.

^** Includes interest expense and commitment fees on borrowings of .01%.

^***The fund's investment adviser, BNY Mellon Investment Adviser, Inc., has contractually agreed, until March 29, 2025, to waive receipt of its fees and/or assume the direct expenses of the fund so that the direct expenses of none of the fund's share classes (excluding Rule 12b-1 fees, shareholder services fees, taxes, interest expense, brokerage commissions, commitment fees on borrowings and extraordinary expenses) exceed .90%. On or after March 29, 2025, BNY Mellon Investment Adviser, Inc. may terminate this expense limitation agreement at any time.

Example

The 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. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. The one-year example and the first year of the three-, five- and ten-years examples are based on net operating expenses, which reflect the expense limitation agreement by BNY Mellon Investment Adviser, Inc. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

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 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 4.83% of the average value of its portfolio.

To pursue its goal, the fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in equity securities of companies located in the United States. The fund may invest in the securities of companies of any market capitalization.

The fund's sub-adviser, Walter Scott & Partners Limited (Walter Scott), an affiliate of BNY Mellon Investment Adviser, Inc., seeks investment opportunities in companies with fundamental strengths that indicate the potential for sustainable long-term growth, thereby benefitting from the power of compounding. Walter Scott focuses on individual stock selection, building the fund's portfolio from the bottom up through extensive fundamental research.

The investment process begins with the screening of reported company financials. Companies that meet certain broad absolute and trend criteria are candidates for more detailed analysis. Sector and industry allocations, as well as allocations to equity securities of companies with varying market capitalizations, are the results of, not part of, the investment process, because Walter Scott's sole focus is on the analysis of and investment in individual companies.

The fund typically sells a security when it no longer possesses the characteristics that caused Walter Scott to purchase the security for the fund's portfolio. A security may be a sell candidate when its valuation reaches or exceeds its calculated fair value, or there are deteriorating fundamentals. Walter Scott may reduce the weighting of a security held by the fund if it becomes overweighted as determined by Walter Scott.

An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit. It is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency. It is not a complete investment program. The fund's share price fluctuates, sometimes dramatically, which means you could lose money.

· Risks of stock investing. Stocks generally fluctuate more in value than bonds and may decline significantly over short time periods. There is the chance that stock prices overall will decline because stock markets tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising prices and falling prices. The market value of a stock may decline due to general market conditions or because of factors that affect the particular company or the company's industry.

· Small and midsize company risk. Small and midsize companies carry additional risks because the operating histories of these companies tend to be more limited, their earnings and revenues less predictable (and some companies may be experiencing significant losses), and their share prices more volatile than those of larger, more established companies. The shares of smaller companies tend to trade less frequently than those of larger, more established companies, which can adversely affect the pricing of these securities and the fund's ability to sell these securities.

· Growth stock risk. Investors often expect growth companies to increase their earnings at a certain rate. If these expectations are not met, investors can punish the stocks inordinately, even if earnings do increase.

· Market risk. The value of the securities in which the fund invests may be affected by political, regulatory, economic and social developments, and developments that impact specific economic sectors, industries or segments of the market.  In addition, turbulence in financial markets and reduced liquidity in equity, credit and/or fixed-income markets may negatively affect many issuers, which could adversely affect the fund.  Global economies and financial markets are becoming increasingly interconnected, and conditions and events in one country, region or financial market may adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or financial 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 world-wide. 

· Liquidity risk. When there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities, it can become more difficult to sell the securities in a timely manner at or near their perceived value. In such a market, the value of such securities and the fund's share price may fall dramatically. Investments that are illiquid or that trade in lower volumes may be more difficult to value.

· Management risk. The investment process used by the fund's sub-adviser could fail to achieve the fund's investment goal and cause your fund investment to lose value.

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The bar chart shows changes in the performance of the fund's Class A shares from year to year. Sales charges, if any, are not reflected in the bar chart, and, if those charges were included, returns would have been less than those shown. The table compares the average annual total returns of the fund's shares to those of a broad measure 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. Performance for each share class will vary due to differences in expenses. More recent performance information may be available at www.im.bnymellon.com.

After-tax performance is shown only for Class A shares. After-tax performance of the fund's other share classes will vary. 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 the investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and the after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their shares through U.S. tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.Returns after taxes on distributions and sale of fund shares may be higher than returns before taxes or returns after taxes on distributions due to an assumed tax benefit from losses on a sale of the fund's shares at the end of the period.

The fund's investment adviser is BNY Mellon Investment Adviser, Inc. (BNYM Investment Adviser). BNYM Investment Adviser has engaged its affiliate, Walter Scott & Partners Limited, to serve as the fund's sub-adviser.

Investment decisions for the fund have been made since the fund's inception in 2008 by Walter Scott's Investment Team, which is overseen by Walter Scott's Investment Management Committee (IMC). The members of the Investment Team with the most significant responsibility for day-to-day management of the fund, who also are the members of Walter Scott's Investment Executive group, are: Roy Leckie, a director of Walter Scott and co-chair of the IMC; Charlie Macquaker, a director of Walter Scott and co-chair of the IMC; Jane Henderson, Managing Director of Walter Scott; Fraser Fox, an investment manager at Walter Scott; and Maxim Skorniakov, an investment manager at Walter Scott.

In general, for each share class, other than Class Y, the fund's minimum initial investment is $1,000 and the minimum subsequent investment is $100. For Class Y shares, the minimum initial investment generally is $1,000,000, with no minimum subsequent investment. You may sell (redeem) your shares on any business day by calling 1-800-373-9387 (inside the U.S. only) or by visiting www.im.bnymellon.com. If you invested in the fund through a third party, such as a bank, broker-dealer or financial adviser, or through a Retirement Plan (as defined below), you may mail your request to sell shares to BNY Mellon Institutional Department, P.O. Box 534442, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15253-4442. If you invested directly through the fund, you may mail your request to sell shares to BNY Mellon Shareholder Services, P.O. Box 534434, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15253-4434. If you are an Institutional Direct accountholder, please contact your BNY Mellon relationship manager for instructions.

Retirement Plans include qualified or non-qualified employee benefit plans, such as 401(k), 403(b)(7), Keogh, pension, profit-sharing and other deferred compensation plans, whether established by corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships, non-profit entities, trade or labor unions, or state and local governments, but do not include IRAs (including, without limitation, traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, IRA "Rollover Accounts" or IRAs set up under Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEP-IRAs), Salary Reduction Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SARSEPs) or Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees (SIMPLE IRAs)).

The fund's distributions are taxable as ordinary income or capital gains, except when your investment is through an IRA, Retirement Plan or other U.S. tax-advantaged investment plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).

If you purchase shares through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the fund's distributor and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of fund shares and related services. To the extent that the intermediary may receive lesser or no payments in connection with the sale of other investments, the payments from the fund's distributor and its related companies may create a potential conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your financial representative to recommend the fund over the other investments. This potential conflict of interest may be addressed by policies, procedures or practices adopted by the financial intermediary. As there may be many different policies, procedures or practices adopted by different intermediaries to address the manner in which compensation is earned through the sale of investments or the provision of related services, the compensation rates and other payment arrangements that may apply to a financial intermediary and its representatives may vary by intermediary. Ask your financial representative or visit your financial intermediary's website for more information.

This prospectus does not constitute an offer or solicitation in any state or jurisdiction in which, or to any person to whom, such offering or solicitation may not lawfully be made.