Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his twenty-five thousand pound honor winnings to the trust for venues, which works to save the UK's grassroots music venues.
He was awarded the award on mid-October as his latest record the album was chosen as the outstanding release of the past year.
The musician has chosen to give the cash to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the crucial part grassroots venues played in his beginning days.
"I couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it weren't for all the shows I played around the area, and further afield, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These spaces are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the total UK scene.
In the last year, well-known musicians such as the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the MVT in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a small levy to their ticket costs, which benefits smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also participated, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his recent tour to support numerous small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds supported locations that were confronting possible closure due to issues stemming from water damage, blazes and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and sound issues.
Some locations were granted funding support in upgrading infrastructure and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted performers and audiences.
"The notion that money from concerts in large arenas supports the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.
The musician is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.
When Pulp received the trophy in the mid-90s for their album the album, frontman Jarvis Cocker announced that the band would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
That year, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite split her award among several charities, such as the children's charity and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"And I contributed a £1,000 to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," she explained to the media.
In recent years, they donated their funds to the community center that developed their band, as well as other independent music bodies.
Additionally winners that year the group contributed their award to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the condition.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," said singer Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the MVT announced it had protected a couple of local spots in south-east England, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The Joiners in that area and the other in Bristol were bought under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by a national body and enthusiasts who buy "shares" in the venues.
