Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his £25,000 honor winnings to the trust for venues, which works to protect the UK's grassroots music venues.
The star was awarded the award on October 16 as his latest record the album was named the best record of the past year.
Fender has chosen to give the cash to the trust, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues played in his initial steps.
"I personally would not have achieved my current career if it hadn't been for all the shows I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," remarked Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these venues have shut down – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, major artists such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which benefits local stages.
Sam Fender also joined in, generating over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to support 38 grassroots venues across the UK.
The donation helped spaces that were confronting imminent closure due to issues caused by water damage, blazes and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.
Additional spaces were granted funding support in improving amenities and sound and lighting systems that helped artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that revenue from performances in large arenas supports the independent spots, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," Fender has commented.
Fender is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize funds to charitable organizations.
When the band received the trophy in the year 1996 for their record Different Class, frontman the singer announced that the group would give their cash to the non-profit the charity.
During 2002, rapper and singer she divided her award across several charities, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also contributed a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed updated gear," Ms Dynamite told a publication.
In recent years, the band donated their prize money to the community center that supported their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.
Also the 1994 recipients they gave their winnings to a MS organization after a friend was identified with the condition.
"The victory was ample," said singer Heather Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our success touched somebody else's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had saved two grassroots venues in south-east England, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The first in Southampton and the other in Bristol were purchased under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is backed by Arts Council England and music fans who buy "shares" in the properties.
