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Advocacy School Mentors and Coaches

The focus of Advocacy School is to help individuals and organizations learn and develop their capacity to be effective advocates in their own right. 

And because “learning by doing” is a key feature of our approach to advocacy training, Advocacy School also works to match up interested individuals and employer organizations with mentors and coaches who bring long-experience and helpful advice and support to students and participating organizations.

The emphasis among Advocacy School’s Mentors / Coaches is to advise and guide clients and to help them learn, develop and practice effective advocacy. It is NOT to undertake the advocacy work itself on behalf of the client. Our primary goal is to help people and organizations do it themselves and do it well.

Two Types of Mentor / Coach
Advocacy School has two types of Mentor / Coach – those who provide their services for no fee (Pro Bono Mentors / Coaches) and those whose services are available on an hourly-fee or project-fee basis (Consulting Mentors / Coaches. )

  1. The Pro Bono Mentors / Coaches are generally retired senior public office holders (both elected and non-elected), NGO / business executives or retired / semi-retired advocacy practitioners.  To protect their privacy and enable them to consider potential mentees discretely, their identities and biographies are not posted on Advocacy School’s website.

    Qualified organizations (registered charities, community non-profits etc.) interested in a gaining the advice and support of a Pro Bono Mentor / Coach are required to fill out an application form available on the Advocacy School website (www.advocacyschool.org/mentors/applicants ). This information is reviewed by Advocacy School and Pro Bono Mentors/ Coaches and  matches between Mentors / Coaches and clients are established where possible

    (Though the Pro Bono Mentors / Coaches charge no fees to users for their services, there is a one-time, Advocacy School set-up fee ($500 - including HST) charged to organizations which are matched with a Mentor / Coach. There is no charge for merely submitting an application.)
              

  2. Consulting Mentors / Coaches are experienced practitioners of one dimension or another of advocacy. Many are veteran practitioners; some  are former public officials; some are Advocacy School instructors. Their services are available on a hourly or per project basis through Advocacy School. Consulting Mentors / Coaches fees vary according to a number of variables – the nature of the applicant organizations (charity versus non-profit versus commercial or professional organization etc.); the length and intensity of the assignment; other details of the service relationship.

    Any individuals or organizations (registered charities, community non-profits, commercial and professional associations, public / private or non-profit sector etc.) interested in a gaining the advice and support of a Consulting Mentor / Coach are required to fill out an application form available on the Advocacy School website (www.advocacyschool.org/mentors/applicants ). This information is reviewed by Advocacy School and Pro Bono Mentors/ Coaches and matches between Mentors / Coaches and clients are established where possible

Advocacy School provides orientation, training, client-selection assistance and support to both Pro Bono and Consulting Mentors / Coaches as well as oversight and administrative management of the Mentoring / Coaching program. It also assists potential clients / students with advice and guidance in their needs determination of mentoring or consulting services  

Advocacy School is always interested in hearing from perspective Mentors and Coaches. If you are interested in being considered for a position as an Advocacy School Mentor or Coach, please fill out the application form found on this page (www.advocacyschool.org/mentors/mentorcoach ).

Following are sketches of some – but not all - of Advocacy School’s Consulting Mentors / Coaches

  • John Stapleton

    John Stapleton worked for the Ontario Government in the Ministry of Community and Social Services and its predecessors for 28 years in the areas of social assistance policy and operations. During his career, John was the senior policy advisor to the Social Assistance Review Committee and the Minister’s Advisory Group on New Legislation. His more recent government work concerned the implementation of the National Child Benefit. He is a Commissioner with the Ontario Soldiers’ Aid Commission and is a volunteer with St. Christopher House and Woodgreen Community Services of Toronto. John was Research Director for the Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults in Toronto and was the co-chair of the working group associated with this project. He is undertaking an Innovations Fellowship with the Metcalf Foundation. He teaches public policy and is a member of 25 in 5. John has published op-eds in the Globe & Mail, National Post and the Toronto Star. He has written reviews for the Literary Review of Canada and written articles and studies for Ideas that Matter, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the C.D. Howe Institute, the Canadian Working Group on HIV and Rehabilitation, the Caledon Institute, The Toronto Dominion Financial Group, the Metcalf Foundation, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, The Toronto City Summit Alliance and many others. John serves on the Board of Directors of the Daily Bread Food Bank and he is the President of the Canadian Horseracing Hall of Fame

    Organization: Open Policy Ontario

  • Tony Stikeman

    Tony Stikeman has spent 40 years in consulting, industry and government. Prior to his retirement from TACTIX Government Relations and Public Affairs in 2010, he was one of Ottawa’s most seasoned government relations practitioners who consulted to a broad range of Canadian and international companies in many different sectors of the economy. His business and public policy background provided a unique advantage to clients in energy and natural resources, environment, tax, transportation and telecommunications.

    Mr. Stikeman began his career in 1970 as Special Assistant to the Hon. C.M. (Bud) Drury, President of the Treasury Board. Between 1973 and 1988, he worked in the energy sector for Canadian Arctic Gas, a Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline consortium; and for Shell Canada in government affairs, strategic planning and economics in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa. Between 1988 and 1995, he developed his consulting career with two Ottawa-based government relations firms prior to launching TACTIX in January 1996.

    TACTIX is a tightly knit company of ten outstanding professionals with experience in consulting, government, business and law. TACTIX helps clients navigate their way through complex political and public policy issues in Ottawa. The firm works easily with the public service, whose responsibilities encompass developing policy alternatives and implementing government programs, and with the political level led by Ministers, their staffs and Parliament.

    Mr. Stikeman is a bilingual native of Montréal and holds a B.A. from McGill University and a Diplôme (Relations Internationales) from l’Institut d’Études Politiques in Paris. He has lectured in oil and gas economics at Mount Royal College in Calgary and in government relations at the University of Ottawa. He is a former President of the Government Relations Institute of Canada and is active in community affairs.

    Organization: