Entrepreneurs have until Friday, June 28 to sign-up for the £50 Challenge, a new charity drive to raise money for children’s hospice Noah’s Ark.

Start-ups, sole traders and SMEs will then have 12 weeks to show off their innovation and money-making acumen to raise as much money as possible for Noah’s Ark.

The business or team that raises the most will be awarded the Noah’s Ark £50 trophy, with other awards for the most creative and most sustainable ideas.

Each business that donates an initial £50 sign-up fee will qualify for discounted ad rates in North London newspaper Ham & High, the charity’s media partner.

Noah’s Ark provides support for babies, children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions and their families in North and Central London and Hertsmere. The charity works with over 500 parents and carers, offering help to children, their siblings and parents — as well as supporting families after bereavement.

After years of providing community-based services, this year Noah’s Ark will open The Ark, its custom-built hospice in Barnet, North London. The facility has been developed on a 7.5 acre nature reserve. The Ark will enable the charity to offer more services to families in urgent need of support. Noah’s Ark describes its new hospice as the “building that London has been crying out for”.

Alison Goodman, Noah’s Ark’s director of income generation and communications, said: “North and Central London’s businesses have such incredible entrepreneurial abilities and we’re proud to be testing them to the limit. With the imminent launch of The Ark – a specialist children’s hospice building – we need the support of local businesses more than ever.”