The artist has donated the entirety of his twenty-five thousand pound award winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which operates to protect the Britain's grassroots live music spots.
He was presented with the prize on mid-October as his latest record his work was named the best record of the last 12 months.
Fender has chosen to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part grassroots venues had in his early career.
"I couldn't be pursuing my current career if it weren't for all the shows I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These locations are iconic, but they are struggling."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the total UK scene.
Recently, major artists like Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to help venues survive, by adding a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which supports smaller concert halls.
Sam Fender also took part, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to support 38 grassroots venues across Britain.
The money assisted locations that were dealing with possible closure due to difficulties stemming from water damage, fires and bereavements, as well as permit problems, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Some locations obtained funding support in upgrading amenities and technical equipment that helped performers and fans.
"The idea that funds from performances in large arenas backs the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has stated.
Fender is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.
In they earned the award in 1996 for their release their work, vocalist Cocker stated that the group would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
That year, artist Ms Dynamite split her award between a few organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also contributed a grand to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed better apparatus," the artist shared with a publication.
Previously, they contributed their prize money to the youth organization that nurtured their act, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
And 1994 winners the group donated their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the illness.
"Winning was quite enough," remarked singer Heather Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our winning touched somebody else's life."
Last week, the trust announced it had protected two grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into local control.
The first in that area and the second in the city were bought under the Own Our Venues scheme, which is funded by Arts Council England and supporters who buy "shares" in the venues.
