The artist has handed over the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award winnings to the MVT, which functions to save the UK's small music venues.
He was awarded the award on October 16 as his third album People Watching was named the top album of the past year.
He has chosen to give the cash to the trust, in appreciation of the vital role small stages fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was beginning," said Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, more than 150 of these locations have permanently closed – roughly one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
In the last year, top acts including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by applying a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports independent venues.
Fender also took part, collecting over £100k on his live tour to help numerous small stages across Britain.
The donation supported locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to challenges arising from flooding, blazes and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and sound issues.
Additional spaces received monetary aid in upgrading infrastructure and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and concertgoers.
"The idea that money from shows in large arenas backs the local stages, where it begins for musicians like me, is just sensible," Sam Fender has commented.
Fender is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.
Back when Pulp won the trophy in the mid-90s for their record Different Class, vocalist Cocker stated that the act would donate their winnings to the organization War Child.
That year, artist the artist divided her award across a few organizations, including the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I donated a £1,000 to the center, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked new equipment," she shared with the media.
In recent years, the band gave their prize money to the youth organization that nurtured their band, as well as other local music groups.
Additionally winners that year they contributed their prize to a charity for MS after a close contact was diagnosed the illness.
"Winning was ample," stated vocalist Small. "The prize was the extra but we didn't require the extra, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted another person's life."
Recently, the MVT revealed it had saved a couple of grassroots venues in south-east England, by bringing them into community ownership.
The first in Southampton and The Croft in the city were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is funded by the arts council and enthusiasts who buy "stakes" in the properties.
