Trust Curiosity. Spark Change.

our mission is your impact

At Openly, we amplify your impact as a purpose-driven leader and changemaker. We empower you to make a bigger difference by helping you ignite and nurture social good – bravely, fully and openly.

We are a Canadian company, grounded locally and connecting globally.

our approach

Learn Readily.

We’re researchers and analysts who approach social change with curious minds and open hearts. We help you connect the dots and make better decisions by engaging with your data and measuring your results. We facilitate learning as an essential tool for innovation and social change.

Lead Bravely.

We’re facilitators and guides and we care deeply about helping you succeed. We’re eternal optimists, visionaries and seek excellence in all that we do. We believe you have the power to change the world and be an influential leader and change maker.

Leverage Fully.

We’re strategists and designers who amplify your impact by helping you simplify complex problems and generate creative solutions. We help you make a bigger difference by engaging with stakeholders to design a brighter future for the people and places you support.

our services

Evaluation &
Strategic Learning.

Community-Based Research.

Organizational
Strategy.

Social Impact
Strategy.

Coaching.

Teaching &
Public Speaking.

Service Details

our founders

We’re the perfect blend of hustle and heart — a team of dreamers, researchers, and strategists with a passion for social change and the belief that curiosity can spark impactful changes in the world.

Tanya Darisi

Co-Founder

Tanya is known for her insatiable drive to make change happen. As our lead researcher and evaluator, she has a true passion for social justice and data-driven insight. Always looking on the bright side, she’s a natural born problem-solver and has a gift for turning complex data into clear insight and strategy. Formerly The O’Halloran Group, Tanya has worked as a community leader and volunteer for many years, contributing to projects and initiatives that promote greater inclusion, wellbeing and dignity for all.

Lisa Watson

Co-Founder

Lisa’s compassionate approach brings a human-centred perspective to all areas of social change. As our lead strategist and facilitator, her passion for human potential, leadership and systems design is evident in her diverse portfolio of clients, partners and collaborators. Lisa has a gift for illuminating strengths, listening deeply and bringing strategies to life. Formerly Strategies for Social Impact, Lisa has worked for over 20 years across government, non-profit and the private sectors.

Meet The Team

where you’ll find us

“Openly allowed our organization to reach strategic alignment and produce a realistic action plan in such a short period of time. Lisa’s thoughtful planning and facilitation brought out the best ideas in our team members and kept our brains active and engaged the whole day. Our organization is now equipped to engage our people in the most effective way possible, thanks to her direction.”

— Olivia Chow
Founder, Institute for Change Leaders

“Enlightening and engaging – creating a powerful, shared platform to reflect on next steps in building social innovation and impact through our work and integrating measurement and evaluation into virtually all our thinking.”

— Lisa McKeen
Easter Seals Canada (Former VP)

“Openly describes how Lisa, Tanya and Randal approach their work perfectly. They never lose site of the bigger picture and have true commitment to authentic and meaningful change. Their keen insights, supportive coaching and visual representations of our work have all been instrumental in helping us to both deepen our impact at the East Scarborough Storefront and broaden our impact through the creation of the Centre for Connected Communities. I feel like we’re on this journey together…and there are possibilities before us.”

— Anne Gloger
East Scarborough Storefront / Centre for Connected Communities

“The thing we value most about working with Tanya and Lisa is their ability to synthesize. They can take a muddy collection of half-formed concepts and quickly crystallize them into a clear, solid direction you can act on, that completely aligns with your values and intent. They are professional yet fun; deeply experienced yet never didactic; respectful yet willing to push the hard questions. We see them as a key and ongoing partner in our growth and development.”

— Laura Manning
Lyle S. Hallman Foundation

“Working with both of you has been a pleasure. You have walked us, with clarity and purpose, through the challenging and often conflicting task of learning the impact of our work. Working with the team and grantees to design a learning strategy has been a major development in our ability to engage meaningfully with our grantees and partners.”

— Jehad Y. Aliweiwi
Executive Director, Laidlaw Foundation

“Openly took us from where we were to where we needed to go, beautifully. We were lifted from muddy strategic planning waters and empowered to navigate a bold social purpose path. Our lean strategic plan is receiving accolades. All that, and the Openly team can be counted on to do what they say they are going to do – with grace.”

— Donna Raetsen-Kemp
CEO, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery

“Lisa delivered a session on transformational leadership at our opening retreat to the 2018 cohort of CivicAction DiverseCity Fellows. Lisa was such a pleasure to work with. The Fellows loved the content, and Lisa was great at reading the room…We can’t wait to work with Lisa again!”

— CivicAction Leadership Foundation

“Lisa Watson expertly provided both the conceptual framework and practical application of network theory, guiding the leaders in our program to explore new aspects of professional and personal networks, understand the power of strong networks and leave the room inspired to become network weavers themselves.”

— Russell Willis Taylor
Founder, Cultural Leadership Program, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

“Lisa and her Openly team were such magicians when it came to giving us a strategic plan for our newly started non-profit organization. They found the forest in our trees through the entire strategic planning process…What a powerful team Openly is! I would highly recommend them…Your company wil be on a different level when Openly uses their magic on you!”

— Jana Girdauskas
Founder, The Period Purse