Sam Fender has handed over the full amount of his £25k Mercury Prize prize money to the trust for venues, which functions to save the Britain's independent concert spaces.
He was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his latest record the album was chosen as the best record of the last 12 months.
He has opted to donate the funds to the trust, in appreciation of the vital role small stages played in his initial steps.
"I couldn't be pursuing what I am doing today if it wasn't for all the gigs I played around the region, and beyond, when I was starting out," stated Fender. "These venues are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these spaces have shut down – about 16 percent of the total UK scene.
Recently, major artists such as Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to support the industry, by applying a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits local stages.
Sam Fender also took part, raising more than £100,000 on his recent tour to support numerous small stages across the UK.
The donation helped spaces that were confronting possible closure due to challenges arising from water damage, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as permit problems, court cases and sound issues.
Other venues obtained funding support in modernizing facilities and gear that directly benefitted artists and concertgoers.
"The concept that funds from concerts in big venues supports the local stages, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just common sense," Fender has said.
He is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize winnings to charitable organizations.
When they won the prize in the mid-90s for their release Different Class, vocalist Jarvis Cocker stated that the group would contribute their winnings to the organization War Child.
That year, musician she split her prize across several charities, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I contributed a grand to the center, to their gymnastics program, because I trained in gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with the media.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective donated their funds to the youth organization that developed their group, as well as other independent music bodies.
And the 1994 recipients M People gave their winnings to a MS organization after a acquaintance was diagnosed the disease.
"Winning was ample," remarked artist the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't need the extra, because we had the honor. So our success touched somebody else's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued a couple of small stages in the South East, by bringing them into local control.
One venue in that area and the other in that location were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is funded by a national body and music fans who buy "ownership units" in the venues.
