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The artist has donated the entirety of his £25k Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which operates to preserve the UK's small live music spots.

The star was awarded the award on 16 October as his third album the album was named the outstanding release of the last 12 months.

He has decided to donate the funds to the trust, in acknowledgment of the essential function grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.

"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I performed around the region, and beyond, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are in difficulty."

Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – roughly one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.

Over the past year, well-known musicians like the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports smaller concert halls.

He also joined in, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to assist thirty-eight small stages across Britain.

These funds assisted spaces that were dealing with potential shutdown due to issues stemming from flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and neighbor objections.

Some locations received monetary aid in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that positively impacted artists and concertgoers.

"The concept that money from shows in major spaces backs the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.

He is far from the only musician to contribute his award winnings to charitable organizations.

When the band earned the prize in 1996 for their release the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the group would contribute their prize money to the non-profit the charity.

During 2002, artist the artist split her bounty between a few charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"Additionally, I gave a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with a publication.

Previously, Ezra Collective gave their prize money to the community center that developed their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.

Additionally 1994 winners the group contributed their prize to a multiple sclerosis charity after a friend was diagnosed the disease.

"Winning was ample," remarked artist Small. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't need the extra, because we had the honor. So our winning touched another person's life."

Recently, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by placing them under community ownership.

One venue in that area and the other in the city were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is supported by Arts Council England and music fans who buy "shares" in the venues.