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Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his £25,000 award winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to preserve the United Kingdom's grassroots music venues.

He was given the cheque on October 16 as his new release the album was named the best record of the past year.

The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages had in his early career.

"I wouldn't be doing my current career if it weren't for all the performances I did around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," stated the artist. "These locations are legendary, but they are in difficulty."

Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these locations have permanently closed – roughly 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.

In the last year, top acts including Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to support the industry, by adding a small levy to their ticket prices, which benefits smaller concert halls.

Sam Fender also participated, generating more than £100,000 on his live tour to support 38 grassroots venues across Britain.

The donation supported locations that were facing possible closure due to challenges arising from floods, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and noise complaints.

Additional spaces were granted funding support in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that positively impacted musicians and fans.

"The concept that funds from performances in big venues helps the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.

The musician is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.

In they earned the trophy in the year 1996 for their album Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would contribute their cash to the charity War Child.

In 2002, artist she split her prize across several organizations, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"And I donated a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," the artist shared with the media.

Two years ago, Ezra Collective gave their prize money to the youth organization that developed their group, as well as other independent music bodies.

Additionally 1994 winners they donated their award to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the condition.

"Receiving the award was sufficient," said singer Small. "The prize was the cherry on top but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched somebody else's life."

Recently, the trust shared it had saved a couple of small stages in that region, by placing them under local control.

One venue in the city and The Croft in Bristol were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is backed by a national body and music fans who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.