The artist has handed over the entirety of his £25k Mercury Prize winnings to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to preserve the United Kingdom's independent music venues.
Fender was presented with the award on mid-October as his new release the album was declared the top album of the last 12 months.
Fender has chosen to donate the funds to the Music Venues Trust, in appreciation of the vital role local spots had in his initial steps.
"I couldn't be pursuing this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I did around the North East, and further afield, when I was starting out," said Fender. "These spaces are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these locations have shut down – about 16 percent of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, major artists including Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the MVT in its efforts to keep the scene afloat, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which benefits local stages.
He also joined in, raising more than £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to help 38 small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds assisted locations that were dealing with possible closure due to difficulties caused by flooding, blazes and bereavements, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and neighbor objections.
Some locations were granted funding support in upgrading facilities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted performers and fans.
"The concept that funds from concerts in major spaces supports the independent spots, where it all starts for artists like me, is just sensible," Fender has commented.
The musician is far from the only musician to donate his honor winnings to good deeds.
Back when the band received the award in the year 1996 for their release the album, frontman the singer declared that the group would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
In 2002, musician the artist divided her prize across a few good causes, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I gave a grand to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was younger and they required better apparatus," the artist told a publication.
Previously, Ezra Collective contributed their funds to the community center that supported their act, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Additionally winners that year they gave their prize to a MS organization after a friend was diagnosed the illness.
"The victory was ample," stated singer Heather Small. "The cash was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the main prize. So our winning touched another person's life."
In the past week, the trust announced it had protected a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by bringing them into community ownership.
One venue in that area and the other in that location were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by a national body and supporters who acquire "ownership units" in the buildings.
