The musician contributes £25,000 cash award to grassroots concert halls
The star has given the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound Mercury Prize prize money to the MVT, which works to save the Britain's independent concert spaces.
Fender was presented with the cheque on October 16 as his latest record his work was declared the top album of the last 12 months.
The musician has chosen to donate the funds to the MVT, in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the shows I played around the area, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," stated the artist. "These spaces are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these venues have ceased operations – approximately 16% of the total UK scene.
In the last year, major artists such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to keep the scene afloat, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which supports smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also took part, raising over £100k on his live tour to assist 38 grassroots venues across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The donation assisted spaces that were facing possible closure due to difficulties caused by flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.
Other venues received financial assistance in upgrading facilities and gear that directly benefitted musicians and concertgoers.
"The idea that revenue from concerts in large arenas backs the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.
Fender is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to good deeds.
In they won the prize in the mid-90s for their album Different Class, vocalist the singer announced that the group would contribute their prize money to the organization War Child.
During 2002, rapper and singer she split her bounty between multiple good causes, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked better apparatus," Ms Dynamite explained to a publication.
Two years ago, they gave their winnings to the community center that supported their band, in addition to other local music groups.
And winners that year they donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was identified with the illness.
"Receiving the award was ample," stated vocalist the singer. "The cash was the cherry on top but we didn't require the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning affected the lives of others."
Recently, the MVT shared it had protected a couple of local spots in the South East, by placing them under public stewardship.
One venue in Southampton and the second in the city were bought under the public acquisition program, which is funded by the arts council and music fans who acquire "stakes" in the properties.