Canada
The Social Enterprise Council of Canada (SECC) of Canada defines a “social enterprise” as "businesses owned by nonprofit organizations, that is directly involved in the production and/or selling of goods and services for the blended purpose of generating income and achieving social, cultural, and/or environmental aims. Social enterprises are one more tool for non-profits to use to meet their mission to contribute to healthy communities.”[17] Canadian social enterprise characteristics vary by region and province in the ways they differentiate social enterprises from other types of businesses, not-for-profits, co-operatives and government agencies: Social enterprises may directly address social needs through their products and services, the number of people they employ or the use of their financial surplus. This can distinguish them from “socially responsible for-profit businesses,” which create positive social change indirectly through the practice of corporate social responsibility (e.g., creating and implementing a charitable foundation; paying fair wages to their employees; using environmentally friendly raw materials; providing volunteers to help with community projects). Social enterprises may use earned revenue strategies to pursue a double or triple bottom line, either alone (as a social economy business, in either the private or the not-for-profit sector) or as a significant part of a not-for-profit corporation’s mixed income stream that may include charitable contributions and public sector assistance. This distinguishes them from some traditional not-for-profit corporations, which may rely in whole or p
rt on charitable and government support. Significant regional differences in legislation, financing, support agencies and corporate structures can be seen across Canada as a result of different historical development paths in the social economy. Common regional characteristics can be seen in British Columbia, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. A raw material or feedstock is the basic material from which a good product is manufactured or made, frequently used with an extended meaning.[1] For example, the term is used to denote material that came from nature and is in an unprocessed or minimally processed state; e.g., raw latex, iron ore, logs, crude oil or seawater. The use of raw material by non-human species includes twigs and found objects as used by birds to make nests. In business, net income - also referred to as the bottom line, net profit, or net earnings - is an entity's income minus expenses for an accounting period.[1] It is computed as the residual of all revenues and gains over all expenses and losses for the period,[2] and has also been defined as the net increase in stockholder's equity that results from a company's operations.[3] In the context of the presentation of financial statements, the IFRS Foundation defines net income as synonymous with profit and loss.[1] Net income is a distinct accounting concept from profit. Profit is a term that "means different things to different people",[3] and different line items in a financial statement may carry the term "profit", such as gross profit and profit before tax.[1] In contrast, net income is a precisely defined term in accounting.