The musician gives £25,000 award winnings to small live spaces
The star has given the full amount of his £25,000 honor winnings to the trust for venues, which functions to preserve the Britain's independent concert spaces.
Fender was given the award on October 16 as his third album his work was chosen as the top album of the past year.
He has opted to give the cash to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the crucial part grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it hadn't been for all the performances I played around the region, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," said Sam Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are in difficulty."
From early 2023 onward, at least 150 of these venues have shut down – approximately one-sixth of the total UK scene.
Recently, top acts such as Pulp, the group Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all aided the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a minor surcharge to their ticket costs, which benefits local stages.
Sam Fender also participated, collecting over £100k on his recent tour to help numerous grassroots venues across Britain.
These funds assisted locations that were facing possible closure due to challenges caused by flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and noise complaints.
Other venues were granted funding support in improving amenities and gear that directly benefitted performers and audiences.
"The concept that money from concerts in large arenas supports the independent spots, where it begins for artists like me, is just common sense," Fender has commented.
Fender is among several artists to donate his award winnings to worthy causes.
In the band won the prize in 1996 for their release Different Class, frontman Jarvis Cocker stated that the act would contribute their cash to the non-profit the charity.
That year, rapper and singer she split her award among a few organizations, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I donated a thousand pounds to my local community centre, to their classes, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they lacked new equipment," Ms Dynamite shared with outlets.
In recent years, Ezra Collective gave their winnings to the youth organization that developed their group, in addition to other grassroots music organisations.
And 1994 winners they contributed their winnings to a multiple sclerosis charity after a close contact was identified with the condition.
"Winning was ample," stated vocalist Small. "The cash was the bonus but we didn't require the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success affected another person's life."
Recently, the trust shared it had saved two small stages in that region, by transferring them to local control.
The Joiners in Southampton and the second in the city were purchased under the public acquisition program, which is funded by a national body and supporters who buy "shares" in the buildings.