Lord Michael Hastings of Scarisbrick is the global head of Citizenship and Diversity with KPMG. He is a former journalist and Commissioner of the Commission for Racial Equality, and has advised the UK Government on race and urban policy as a Downing Street Policy Unit advisor.

Lord Hastings, who was born in Jamaica, received the UNICEF award in 2005 for 'outstanding contribution to understanding and effecting solutions for Africa's children'. He is chairman of the UK crime prevention organisation Crime Concern and in 2003 was awarded a CBE for his services to crime reduction.

The father-of-three was the BBC's first head of corporate social responsibility and in 2005 was appointed an independent peer to the House of Lords.

The humanitarian and activist visited the Island last week to speak at The Centre on Philanthropy's Third Sector Conference, where he advocated the importance of corporate social responsibility even in the bleakest of economic times.

Corporate social responsibility and global citizenship are these just managerial 'buzzwords' or are they weighted with real cause and effect?

Lord Hastings believes they have the power to inspire change and save lives, even in the smallest currency of an hour or two of your time.

With the global financial crisis and economic downturn beginning to bite Bermuda's economy, this might seem the worst time in decades to ask companies to give, but Lord Hastings insists their sense of civic responsibility is more important than ever.

"Philanthropy has been around for generations, if not hundreds of years, but it's about the giving of money which is the easiest thing a company can do," he says.

"Corporate responsibility is the duty organisations have to drive change. It means that if money is to be given, how do we also get involved in spending time and commitment and people resources in ensuring the most effective use of that money, to see it changes society for the good?

"The gifting of money should always continue because it makes us less greedy, but beyond that is, how do you make society more effective so change processes are the order of the day?"

The roots of corporate social responsibility lie in the 70s when many corporations around the world invested in culture and the arts, such as sponsoring concerts, artwork and exhibits.

Lord Hastings says: "This had very little social benefit. In the mid- to late-80s, as a result in the hike in unemployment and urban riots in the UK, companies began to wake up to a fractured society and started thinking, 'how can we get involved ourselves, as the citizens of towns and cities and communities?'

"Corporate civic responsibility is about the recognition of our place as citizens in a global society. At KPMG issues such as poverty, disease and the environment matter."

These days, he says, civic responsibility is "the accepted norm for major world corporations".

During a recession though, when international companies in Bermuda are axing staff and expenses, should not charity begin at home?

The Centre on Philanthropy last month raised the dilemma of how charities may cope in an economic downturn when there is less money to go around but more people in need.

It urged local charities to pool their resources in anticipation of less contributions but a greater demand for services such as food and shelter.

Lord Hastings says it is important for the international business sector to recognise that volunteering an hour or two of their employees' time also brings great value.

"The gift of time is a more significant gift than the gift of money," he says. "Giving money for wealthy individuals in a wealthy society is easy.

"Although corporations will and do need to look at every aspect of expenditure in a time of uncertainty like this, the amount they give in proportion to their profits is relatively tiny less than one percent.

"I think there is an increasing argument for when money is tight, that generosity should remain the benchmark of how corporations operate.

"When things are difficult, people will become even more marginalised and their needs will become greater so they need greater assistance."

He says: "This is the time for higher levels of aspirational giving, not for pulling back."

In May 2008, KPMG member firms contributed to disaster relief charities in the wake of the Myanmar cyclone and the earthquake in Sichuan, China. However, they also sent staff volunteers. At the KPMG office in Chengdu, Sichuan, employees packed supplies, gave blood and raised funds. They also helped to set up the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation's emergency operations centre and the company then assisted in the construction of two new schools and community centres.

Lord Hastings says: "Our commitment to our communities is a core value, it is intrinsic to who we are, and it is intrinsic to everything we work to achieve."

As a former journalist for ITV and the BBC, he insists the most important role the media has is its power to inspire change.

Lord Hastings was an education correspondent for the breakfast television station TV-am in the 1980s and was then a political journalist for the BBC, presenting 'Around Westminster', a Sunday politics and analysis show.

"I specialised in education and political journalism and enjoyed both equally," he says.

"I've always believed journalism at its best inspires people to go beyond the day-to-day, and rather than being gossipy about other's lives and weaknesses, it inspires people to become change-makers.

"Journalism is about covering ideas and creating a culture about what is positive."

At TV-am, he presented a good schools' guide featuring state schools which achieved results against the odds, such as inner-city violence and broken homes.

Lord Hastings says: "Effective schools are led by strong head teachers with a culture driven by values, and those values are maintained consistently, such as with the uniform. You don't let a day go by with a single tie out of place.

"By doing that you build up a routine and when people have to work in a routine structure, the mind also works with routine discipline."

As a former Commissioner of the Commission for Racial Equality, he also believes you can't destroy racism through legislation. Lord Hastings says the key is to find common ground such as shared cultural values and experiences, and to live and work alongside each other.

"You can't eliminate racism by legislation, by outlawing it," he says. "Through the law you can just establish boundaries where discrimination is minimised and where it becomes inappropriate, but you can't stop it.

"You can only change racism through leadership."

He gives the example of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who encouraged Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland to sit down and express their emotions, hopes and fears to one another.

"One of the people most successful in enabling the people of Northern Ireland to heal their rifts, particularly after the Omagh bombing (1998), was the black Archbishop from South Africa, Desmond Tutu.

"You can heal these rifts by bonding together, by focusing together on what binds us as individuals and our cultural identities," he says.

Another weapon in defeating racism is "living in integrated communities".

"Integration is housing, living together, attending the same social venues, schools, sporting events, and travelling on the same forms of public transport. When that starts to happen, differences begin to break down. "The more people live in segregated areas, the more entrenched racism becomes."

As a father of two daughters, aged 25 and 22, and a 12-year-old son, Lord Hastings has faith that even in these dark economic times with the threat of climate change, the younger generation can put our world on the right path.

"I think one of the ugly lessons of the past two years is that greedy, debt-laden lifestyles have brought us all to our knees. It's the outcome of a generation of excess," says Lord Hastings.

"It would be fantastic to have a generation not to live on the back of a credit card but to live according to the old habits of 'work and save', and also 'work and give'.

"We need to have a new generation to drive us in order for our society to return to wholesomeness and to be debt-free.

"As a society we need to get back to a place where greed and irresponsibility are not the driving forces of our economy.

"I would advise young people in Bermuda to be disciplined to drive to maximum success, to earn the most possible in the most sustainable way but to give away the maximum."

He says: "Young people have influenced governments and the NGO movement with their passion for the environment. Every corporation now is committed to alternative fuels and investment, to protecting the environment for the future. If young people can take that same energy to other issues which are consuming their lives, there is so much potential.

"The older generation were lazy about conservation and recycling, about throwing plastics in the ocean and using fossil fuels, because we became in many ways too affluent on the back of carelessness."

Lord Hastings says: "This generation can decide to be great men and women by earning a lot, but giving a lot away. They can choose to reshape a different capitalism of the future.

"It's the right thing to work hard and be profitable, but also to be generous and to get involved in the pressure points of the world.

"This generation is phenomenally important. If they can avoid the trivial and be inspirational and aspirational, then they can make all the difference."