Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which functions to protect the Britain's grassroots concert spaces.
The star was presented with the cheque on 16 October as his new release People Watching was declared the top album of the previous year.
Fender has decided to donate the funds to the trust, in appreciation of the essential function grassroots venues had in his initial steps.
"I personally wouldn't be doing my current career if it hadn't been for all the performances I played around the area, and further afield, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These spaces are renowned, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have ceased operations – about one-sixth of the total UK scene.
Recently, top acts like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all supported the trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by applying a modest fee to their ticket costs, which goes to help independent venues.
Sam Fender also participated, collecting more than £100,000 on his live tour to help 38 small stages across the UK.
The donation helped locations that were facing imminent closure due to issues caused by water damage, fire incidents and bereavements, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Additional spaces were granted monetary aid in improving amenities and gear that positively impacted artists and concertgoers.
"The idea that revenue from performances in major spaces helps the local stages, where it begins for artists like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has said.
Fender is far from the only musician to donate his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.
In the band earned the trophy in 1996 for their release the album, frontman Cocker stated that the band would contribute their cash to the organization War Child.
During 2002, musician Ms Dynamite divided her bounty across several charities, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"I also contributed a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they lacked updated gear," the artist explained to a publication.
In recent years, they donated their prize money to the community center that supported their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
And the 1994 recipients the group donated their prize to a MS organization after a friend was found to have the disease.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," said singer the singer. "The money was the extra but we didn't need the extra, because we had the cake. So our victory impacted another person's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued a couple of local spots in south-east England, by bringing them into local control.
The first in Southampton and the other in the city were purchased under the public acquisition initiative, which is funded by the arts council and enthusiasts who buy "ownership units" in the buildings.
