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The artist has donated the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize cash to the MVT, which works to preserve the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.

Fender was awarded the cheque on October 16 as his new release his work was named the best record of the previous year.

Fender has decided to donate the funds to the MVT, in recognition of the crucial part small stages had in his initial steps.

"I couldn't be pursuing this success if it weren't for all the gigs I did around the area, and further afield, when I was beginning," stated Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are facing challenges."

Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – approximately one-sixth of the total UK scene.

In the last year, major artists such as Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits local stages.

Sam Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help numerous grassroots venues across Britain.

The donation supported spaces that were facing imminent closure due to issues stemming from flooding, blazes and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.

Some locations received financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and gear that helped artists and concertgoers.

"The idea that money from performances in major spaces supports the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has commented.

He is not the first artist to give his Mercury Prize prize money to worthy causes.

In Pulp won the trophy in 1996 for their release Different Class, lead singer the singer declared that the group would give their cash to the organization War Child.

That year, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite shared her bounty among multiple organizations, such as the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.

"I also contributed a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required updated gear," she shared with the media.

In recent years, the band donated their prize money to the local youth club that nurtured their group, alongside other grassroots music organisations.

And the 1994 recipients M People donated their award to a MS organization after a close contact was found to have the disease.

"Winning was ample," stated vocalist the singer. "The prize was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched somebody else's life."

In the past week, the MVT shared it had rescued two grassroots venues in the South East, by bringing them into community ownership.

The first in Southampton and the second in that location were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by a national body and supporters who acquire "shares" in the venues.