At least four top officials of Toronto's SickKids Foundation have left the charity – including the highly paid president – creating a leadership gulf the agency says it hopes to fill as soon as possible.

Michael O'Mahoney, an American hired five years ago as president of the foundation – the fundraising arm of the Hospital for Sick Children – will attend divinity school to pursue his goal of becoming a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church, board chair Patsy Anderson said yesterday. He will continue to live in Canada and stay on as a paid consultant of the foundation.

His exit follows that of at least three other senior officials who have left the charity in recent months.

"It would be a very real misrepresentation to say (conditions at the foundation) are chaotic," Anderson said. "(O'Mahoney) is a terrific guy. We had a great run with Mike."

Anderson said O'Mahoney doubled the size of the foundation's revenues in his time at the helm.

A Star review of salaries at the foundation shows they have been growing steadily under O'Mahoney, with wages that are unusual in the Canadian charity world. Its top 10 officials (including the president) earned more than $2.8 million in salary and benefits last year, according to the most recent information available. The year before, the top 10 earned $2.2 million.

In the year ending March 31, 2008, O'Mahoney, 51, was paid $624,103 in salary and benefits, more than the president of the Hospital for Sick Children itself.

Among the five vice-presidents of the foundation in that same year, one was paid more than $500,000; the others between $200,000 and $250,000. Another five executives listed as directors (in such areas as marketing) were paid between $124,000 and $160,000.

Anderson defended the salaries, saying SickKids Foundation has a more "complex" business model than similar sized charities that pay executives far less.

The president of World Vision Canada, for example, earns a salary of roughly $175,000.

Though thousands of volunteers, who are committed to helping sick children, raise money in schools, walkathons and other ventures, Anderson said the myriad of "business lines" the foundation executives manage requires them to hire an elite group of fundraising professionals to oversee the various programs.

Beyond senior executives, the foundation now has 85 employees making more than $50,000, up from 33 at that level just two years before.

Anderson says the board has no plans to rein in salaries.

"Our philosophy is we hire for excellence in fundraising and marketing," she said.

O'Mahoney did not respond to interview requests.

His last day on the job falls at the end of January. Prior to joining SickKids, he had fundraising posts at charities in Washington and Philadelphia.

Usually, the only way for the public to obtain charity salaries is to ask the charity itself.

Most charities won't divulge this information. (World Vision takes the position that donors deserve to know).

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However, charities that do business in the United States must disclose salaries, and since SickKids falls into that category, the Star was able to obtain the information. The figures in this story relating to SickKids Foundation salaries are in U.S. dollars. Depending on when the money was paid, and given fluctuating currency rates, the amount in Canadian dollars will be higher or lower.

Anderson said O'Mahoney doubled the foundation's donated revenue in his five years, from $45 million to just under $100 million in the most recent year.

But the Star found expenses are also increasing, and some of the paid fundraising initiatives deliver less than 50 cents on the dollar.

The foundation's overall administration expenses soared to $6 million annually, three times what they were five years ago, according to statements filed with Canada's charity regulator.

In addition to executive fundraisers, the charity uses a series of paid fundraising firms to conduct direct mail, street and other campaigns. Last year, the foundation reported to the charity regulator that one campaign raised $8.3 million, but $4.7 million was retained by the professional fundraisers, meaning each donated dollar ended up as 44 cents.

In stories published in 2007, the Star found that SickKids Foundation was using commission-based fundraisers.

O'Mahoney said he ordered the discredited technique, which the regulator does not approve of, but dropped it after the Star brought it to his attention.

Anderson said they have hired an executive search firm to find a replacement for O'Mahoney.

Others who have left include the vice-president of strategic communications and the vice-president of strategic partnerships.

O'Mahoney will be paid as a consultant to help the foundation grow its international strategy for fundraising, Anderson said.

Kevin Donovan can be reached at (416) 869-4425 or kdonovan@thestar.ca.