Thames Valley Air Ambulance has forecast a drop of £1 million in annual donations because of cancelled community and business fundraising events.
The service treated 2,670 patients last year and said it urgently needed donations to secure its future.
Thames Valley Air Ambulance, which has served residents in Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire for 21 years, has never received government or National Lottery funding.
It said it had also paid for its doctors and paramedics to do shifts at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford since the pandemic began, with them mainly being deployed in the emergency department and Covid-19 wards.
Neil Harman, Thames Valley Air Ambulance’s director of fundraising, said: “Never before in our history have we anticipated such a large loss in fundraising over such a short period.
“We do want to reassure the public that whatever the response to our appeal, we will continue to provide life-saving care in the immediate future and be on hand to back-up the NHS in our efforts to tackle the pandemic.
“We are calling on those that can give, to back us at this time and help us secure our service well into the future.”
The charity raised £8.7m last year and this is expected to drop to £7.25m in 2020, meaning its forecast of a £1m shortfall could yet be “a significant understatement”.
