The star has handed over the entirety of his £25,000 honor winnings to the MVT, which works to save the UK's independent music venues.
The star was given the prize on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was chosen as the best record of the previous year.
The musician has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in recognition of the essential function grassroots venues had in his initial steps.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I did around the area, and beyond, when I was beginning," said Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these venues have shut down – approximately 16 percent of the total UK scene.
In the last year, top acts including the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to support the industry, by applying a modest fee to their ticket costs, which benefits independent venues.
Sam Fender also participated, raising in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to help numerous grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds helped spaces that were facing potential shutdown due to challenges caused by flooding, fires and personal losses, as well as permit problems, court cases and neighbor objections.
Other venues were granted funding support in improving infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that positively impacted performers and audiences.
"The concept that money from shows in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has commented.
Fender is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize funds to charitable organizations.
In Pulp received the award in the mid-90s for their release their work, vocalist the singer declared that the band would donate their winnings to the non-profit War Child.
In 2002, artist Ms Dynamite split her award between multiple charities, such as the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I gave a thousand pounds to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required better apparatus," she explained to a publication.
In recent years, they donated their winnings to the youth organization that nurtured their act, as well as other local music groups.
Also the 1994 recipients M People gave their prize to a charity for MS after a close contact was found to have the illness.
"Winning was ample," stated singer the singer. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning touched the lives of others."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust announced it had protected a couple of small stages in the South East, by placing them under local control.
The Joiners in that area and the second in Bristol were purchased under the community ownership initiative, which is funded by a national body and supporters who purchase "stakes" in the buildings.
