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The artist has given the complete sum of his £25k Mercury Prize cash to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the United Kingdom's independent concert spaces.

He was awarded the cheque on mid-October as his new release his work was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.

He has chosen to give the cash to the trust, in recognition of the vital role local spots fulfilled in his early career.

"I would not have achieved this success if it weren't for all the performances I did around the region, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Fender. "These locations are renowned, but they are struggling."

Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these venues have permanently closed – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.

Recently, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket prices, which supports independent venues.

He also joined in, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to help 38 grassroots venues across the UK.

These funds helped venues that were dealing with potential shutdown due to challenges stemming from water damage, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and sound issues.

Some locations obtained financial assistance in modernizing facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted artists and concertgoers.

"The notion that funds from performances in major spaces backs the local stages, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.

The musician is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize funds to charitable organizations.

Back when they received the prize in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker announced that the group would contribute their prize money to the charity the charity.

During 2002, artist Ms Dynamite split her prize between multiple charities, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.

"Additionally, I gave a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked new equipment," Ms Dynamite told outlets.

In recent years, they gave their funds to the community center that developed their band, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.

Additionally winners that year they donated their winnings to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the condition.

"Winning was ample," remarked vocalist the singer. "The money was the bonus but we could do without the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning affected another person's life."

In the past week, the Music Venues Trust announced it had protected two grassroots venues in the South East, by placing them under local control.

The first in the city and the second in the city were purchased under the Own Our Venues program, which is backed by a national body and supporters who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.