Sam Fender has donated the full amount of his £25,000 honor winnings to the trust for venues, which functions to save the UK's small music venues.
He was given the prize on October 16 as his third album People Watching was declared the best record of the previous year.
The musician has decided to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part small stages had in his beginning days.
"I personally would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I performed around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," said the artist. "These locations are legendary, but they are facing challenges."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these locations have permanently closed – about 16% of the entire UK sector.
Recently, top acts such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by adding a small levy to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.
He also joined in, raising over £100k on his live tour to help 38 grassroots venues across the UK.
These funds assisted venues that were dealing with imminent closure due to issues arising from floods, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, conflicts and noise complaints.
Other venues obtained financial assistance in modernizing facilities and gear that positively impacted artists and fans.
"The notion that money from concerts in big venues backs the local stages, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just common sense," Sam Fender has commented.
The musician is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize prize money to good deeds.
In Pulp received the prize in 1996 for their release Different Class, lead singer the singer announced that the group would give their prize money to the organization War Child.
That year, musician she split her prize among a few organizations, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a £1,000 to my local community centre, to their classes, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required new equipment," she shared with outlets.
Two years ago, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the local youth club that developed their group, alongside other local music groups.
And winners that year they contributed their award to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the disease.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," stated vocalist the singer. "The money was the cherry on top but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success impacted another person's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust shared it had rescued two grassroots venues in south-east England, by transferring them to public stewardship.
One venue in the city and the other in that location were bought under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by a national body and supporters who acquire "stakes" in the properties.
