The Ronald McDonald House Ball is one of the main events in the Orange calendar and was scheduled for September to raise funds to house families needing to be near children in hospital.

Executive Officer Rebecca Walsh said the decision to cancel was the right one given the current economic climate.

"We take in families from 86 per cent of the state and while fundraising was a challenge last year due to the harsh impact of the drought, the Board of RMH Orange felt in all conscience it would be impossible to rely on the generosity of the business community at the moment," she said.

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"Major sponsors have also been impacted so hard during this current health crisis on top of the drought."

She said the Ronald McDonald House Ball raised $70,000 last year and while the central RMH charity provided some operating costs to each facility, it was in the same boat.

She said supporting one family for a night cost $138.

"But any donation we welcome, from $1 upwards," she said.

However, some of the fun of the Ronald McDonald Ball will still go ahead in an online form on a date yet to be confirmed.

"The virtual platform provides many opportunities for us such as online raffles, which we have organised with some fantastic prizes," Ms Walsh said.

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