Sam Fender has donated the entirety of his £25,000 honor cash to the trust for venues, which operates to preserve the UK's independent music venues.
Fender was given the prize on 16 October as his latest record his work was chosen as the top album of the last 12 months.
He has decided to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in acknowledgment of the crucial part small stages played in his beginning days.
"I wouldn't be doing my current career if it weren't for all the gigs I did around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These venues are renowned, but they are facing challenges."
From early 2023 onward, over 150 of these locations have ceased operations – about one-sixth of the whole industry in the UK.
Over the past year, major artists like Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by adding a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help smaller concert halls.
He also joined in, generating in excess of £100,000 on his live tour to help thirty-eight local spots across Britain.
The money assisted locations that were confronting possible closure due to difficulties caused by flooding, fire incidents and personal losses, as well as permit problems, conflicts and noise complaints.
Some locations were granted financial assistance in modernizing facilities and technical equipment that directly benefitted artists and concertgoers.
"The notion that revenue from shows in big venues supports the local stages, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.
Fender is not the first artist to donate his Mercury Prize funds to worthy causes.
When they earned the award in the mid-90s for their release their work, vocalist the singer declared that the band would give their winnings to the organization War Child.
That year, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite shared her prize between multiple charities, including the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"Additionally, I donated a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics program, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they needed better apparatus," she explained to a publication.
Previously, Ezra Collective donated their winnings to the community center that nurtured their band, in addition to other local music groups.
Also winners that year M People donated their award to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the disease.
"Winning was quite enough," said singer Small. "The cash was the extra but we could do without the cherry, because we had the honor. So our victory touched another person's life."
Last week, the Music Venues Trust revealed it had protected two small stages in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The Joiners in that area and the second in Bristol were bought under the community ownership initiative, which is backed by the arts council and enthusiasts who acquire "ownership units" in the buildings.
