The two causes will benefit from funds raised by Wales & West Housing Association staff during a two-year period, after more than 850 staff were invited to nominate charities.

A shortlist was drawn up of the most popular suggestions and staff voted for their preferred charity.

Diane Barnes, senior administrator at Wales & West Housing said: "One of the staff members who nominated Wales Air Ambulance had personal experience of the service, when one of the older residents living at the housing scheme she manages was taken ill.

"Wales Air Ambulance flew the resident to hospital and our staff member was in no doubt that the speed of the service was critical in saving the person's life, so we are delighted to be able to support the charity's vital work."

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This will not be the first time that Wales & West Housing has raised funds for the Wales Air Ambulance, they raised more than £6,000 in 2006.

Now operational 24/7, the charity needs to raise £8 million every year to keep the helicopters flying.

Speaking on how valuable the company think the lifesaving service is Diane added: "Wales Air Ambulance is hugely important. It saves lives every single day of the year. When we learned that the service relies entirely on public donations to keep their emergency helicopters flying to all parts of Wales, our staff were keen to help support the Charity and make a difference to its fundraising for the next two years."

The staff kicked off their fundraising with an Easter egg raffle, which raised more than £400.

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Diane said: "We also have people running marathons, doing sponsored challenges and baking cakes over the coming months and are looking forward to many other innovative and fun fundraising ideas and suggestions that we can take part in and support over the next two years. "We also asked staff to donate the odd number of pennies from their pay to our charity. This way we can raise thousands of pounds every year without having to do anything!"

Katie Macro, campaigns manager for the Wales Air Ambulance, said: "We're absolutely delighted to have been chosen as one of Wales & West Housing's charities of the year for the next two years. Support from businesses like Wales & West Housing is vital in helping us to be there for the people of Wales when they need us most."

• There are several ways the public can continue to support the Wales Air Ambulance. These include online donations, signing up to the charity's Lifesaving Lottery or by coming up with their own innovative ways to fundraise at home. Further information can be found at www.walesairambulance.com

Alternatively, a £5 text-message donation can be made by texting the word HELI to 70711.

For more information on Wales & West Housing visit wwha.co.uk