Sam Fender has handed over the entirety of his £25,000 award cash to the MVT, which functions to preserve the UK's independent music venues.
He was presented with the prize on 16 October as his new release People Watching was declared the outstanding release of the previous year.
Fender has decided to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the crucial part local spots had in his early career.
"As an artist couldn't be pursuing this success if it wasn't for all the performances I played around the region, and elsewhere, when I was starting out," stated Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – about 16 percent of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, top acts like the band Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its efforts to support the industry, by applying a modest fee to their ticket prices, which benefits independent venues.
Fender also took part, generating over £100k on his live tour to support thirty-eight small stages across Britain.
The donation supported venues that were confronting potential shutdown due to challenges arising from water damage, blazes and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, conflicts and neighbor objections.
Some locations obtained financial assistance in modernizing infrastructure and technical equipment that helped performers and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from performances in big venues supports the local stages, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just logical," the star has said.
Fender is far from the only musician to give his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.
When they won the trophy in the mid-90s for their album Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker declared that the band would give their winnings to the charity War Child.
That year, artist the artist divided her bounty across a few charities, including the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I contributed a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they needed new equipment," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.
In recent years, the band contributed their funds to the youth organization that developed their band, as well as other independent music bodies.
And winners that year the group contributed their prize to a multiple sclerosis charity after a acquaintance was diagnosed the disease.
"Winning was ample," said vocalist Small. "The prize was the bonus but we didn't need the extra, because we had the honor. So our success touched somebody else's life."
Last week, the MVT revealed it had saved several grassroots venues in that region, by placing them under local control.
The Joiners in the city and The Croft in the city were purchased under the public acquisition scheme, which is supported by the arts council and supporters who buy "shares" in the properties.
