Live Q&A: Charities and social investment, Thursday 17 November

The economic climate is making it hard for many charities to make ends meet. Flat real incomes are making it difficult to hit fundraising targets, while foundations are reporting ever-growing numbers of applicants for their grants. Social investment can provide charities with the means to grow and become more sustainable. Social investors are sometimes more likely to lend money to charities than traditional lenders. Moreover, social investment has just received a shot in the arm through new guidance from the Charity Commission which states that charities can invest funds in ways that directly further their charitable aims. This means that charities can now consider programme-related investment and 'mixed-motive investment' with more reassurance. During the live Q&A, we'll cover some of the main questions relating to charities and social investment, including: • What is social investment? • The different forms of social investment – are they right for your charity? • Writing a social investment business plan • What the new Charity Commission guidance means for charities' own investments You can leave your questions in the comments section below, or come back to join the discussion live from 1pm to 3pm on Thursday 17 November. If would like to join our experts on the panel, email Kate Hodge . Expert panel Rob Hodgkinson - investment manager, CAF Venturesome, Charities Aid Foundation Rob is an investment manager at Venturesome, a leading £15m social investment fund. Rob also manages the Community Land Trust (CLT) Fund, an innovative social housing fund that seeks to build affordable properties on a commercial basis. Prior to working in social investment, Rob worked for three years in M&A at Rothschild in the energy and property teams. He is also a member of the European Social Investment Taskforce. Twitter: @CAFVenturesome Phil Caroe - chief operating officer, Allia Phil is chief operating officer for Allia, the social profit society, where he has overseen the creation of an online fundraising platform to enable charities to raise grant funds through social investments in Allia's charitable bonds. Phil is now spending a fair amount of his time working on the development of new social investment products. Twitter: @charitablebonds Jane Tully - head of policy and public affairs, CFDG Jane manages policy, public affairs and research work for the Charity Finance Directors' Group, where she specialises in current funding, finance and governance issues facing the charity sector. She has previously worked on a range policy issues including social investment for the Charity Commission, as well as for charities and local government. Twitter: @CFDG Nick Mott - head of policy development, guidance and review, The Charity Commission Nick heads up the Charity Commission's policy team that published the revised Charities and Investment Matters (cc14). He has been with the Commission for 25 years during which time the legal and policy framework for charity investments have changed radically. Other areas of policy interest have recently included public benefit, the Equality Act and regulation of exempt charities. Twitter: @ChtyCommission Benedict Rickey - consultant, New Philanthropy Capital Benedict works with charities, funders and investors to measure their impact and increase their effectiveness, including advising charities on the best approach to impact measurement. In Autumn 2011 he co-authored 'Understanding the demand for and supply of social finance' for NESTA. Since he has co-ordinated NPC's work on social investment, and recently authored the forthcoming 'Best to borrow? A charity guide to social investment'. Twitter: @NewPhilanthropy Geetha Rabindrakumar - director of finance, Scope Geetha joined Scope in June 2008. She has worked in finance roles in the charity sector for the past eight years. She previously worked in the public services division at PwC, working with charities, local authorities and housing associations during her time there. She has also had a number of charity volunteer roles, including as treasurer. Twitter: @scope This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. To join the voluntary sector network , click here . This Q&A is supported by the Charities Aid Foundation