Sam Fender has given the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound award cash to the MVT, which functions to preserve the UK's grassroots concert spaces.
He was awarded the prize on October 16 as his new release People Watching was chosen as the best record of the past year.
He has decided to donate the funds to the trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues played in his beginning days.
"As an artist wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the shows I did around the region, and elsewhere, when I was beginning," remarked Sam Fender. "These spaces are renowned, but they are struggling."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these locations have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, major artists such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight grassroots venues across Britain.
The money supported locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to challenges caused by flooding, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and sound issues.
Other venues received monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that helped performers and concertgoers.
"The concept that funds from shows in major spaces backs the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has commented.
Fender is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to good deeds.
In Pulp received the award in 1996 for their record the album, frontman Cocker declared that the band would donate their winnings to the charity War Child.
In 2002, musician Ms Dynamite shared her award among a few good causes, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also donated a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked updated gear," the artist shared with outlets.
In recent years, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the community center that supported their act, alongside other local music groups.
Additionally winners that year M People donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was found to have the disease.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," remarked vocalist Small. "The cash was the cherry on top but we could do without the cherry, because we had the cake. So our victory touched another person's life."
Last week, the MVT shared it had saved a couple of local spots in that region, by placing them under local control.
The first in Southampton and the other in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by a national body and music fans who buy "stakes" in the buildings.
