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The star has given the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to protect the Britain's independent music venues.

Fender was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his latest record People Watching was chosen as the best record of the previous year.

He has chosen to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the vital role local spots played in his initial steps.

"As an artist wouldn't be doing my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the region, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – approximately 16 percent of the total UK scene.

In the last year, top acts like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the MVT in its attempts to support the industry, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.

Fender also took part, raising over £100k on his live tour to support 38 small stages across Britain.

The donation assisted spaces that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from floods, blazes and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.

Other venues obtained monetary aid in modernizing facilities and technical equipment that helped artists and fans.

"The idea that funds from performances in major spaces backs the smaller venues, where it begins for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.

The musician is far from the only musician to contribute his Mercury Prize prize money to worthy causes.

When Pulp received the award in the mid-90s for their album Different Class, lead singer Cocker declared that the act would contribute their cash to the charity War Child.

During 2002, musician she divided her bounty between several charities, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"And I contributed a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked better apparatus," the artist explained to outlets.

Previously, Ezra Collective contributed their funds to the local youth club that nurtured their band, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

And winners that year they gave their winnings to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the illness.

"Receiving the award was ample," said artist Small. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched the lives of others."

Recently, the MVT shared it had rescued two local spots in the South East, by transferring them to community ownership.

The first in Southampton and the other in that location were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the properties.