The artist has donated the entirety of his £25,000 honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to save the United Kingdom's small music venues.
He was presented with the cheque on mid-October as his third album his work was declared the top album of the last 12 months.
The musician has decided to hand the money over to the trust, in acknowledgment of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.
"I personally wouldn't be doing what I am doing today if it hadn't been for all the performances I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was starting out," stated Fender. "These locations are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
Beginning in 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – approximately 16% of the total UK scene.
Recently, top acts like the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their ticket prices, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
Fender also joined in, raising over £100k on his 2024 arena tour to assist thirty-eight local spots across the UK.
The donation assisted locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to difficulties caused by flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as licensing issues, court cases and sound issues.
Other venues were granted funding support in modernizing amenities and technical equipment that positively impacted artists and fans.
"The concept that revenue from shows in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it all starts for musicians like me, is just logical," the star has stated.
Fender is among several artists to donate his Mercury Prize funds to charitable organizations.
In they earned the trophy in the year 1996 for their album the album, vocalist the singer announced that the group would give their winnings to the charity the charity.
During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite split her prize among several charities, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.
"Additionally, I gave a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I trained in gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked updated gear," the artist shared with a publication.
Two years ago, the band contributed their prize money to the youth organization that supported their band, in addition to other local music groups.
And winners that year they gave their award to a charity for MS after a close contact was found to have the disease.
"Winning was ample," said vocalist Small. "The money was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted somebody else's life."
Last week, the MVT revealed it had protected several small stages in that region, by transferring them to community ownership.
The first in that area and the other in Bristol were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by Arts Council England and music fans who buy "stakes" in the venues.
