The artist has given the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which works to preserve the UK's grassroots music venues.
Fender was given the award on October 16 as his new release People Watching was chosen as the outstanding release of the previous year.
Fender has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in recognition of the vital role small stages had in his initial steps.
"I would not have achieved my current career if it wasn't for all the gigs I played around the area, and beyond, when I was starting out," stated the artist. "These venues are legendary, but they are in difficulty."
Since the start of 2023, at least 150 of these spaces have shut down – roughly 16% of the whole industry in the UK.
In the last year, major artists such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all aided the trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by including a modest fee to their admission fees, which goes to help independent venues.
Fender also joined in, raising in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to help thirty-eight grassroots venues across Britain.
The money supported spaces that were dealing with imminent closure due to difficulties stemming from water damage, fires and personal losses, as well as regulatory hurdles, legal disputes and sound issues.
Some locations obtained funding support in upgrading amenities and sound and lighting systems that directly benefitted artists and fans.
"The notion that revenue from concerts in large arenas supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for performers like me, is just common sense," Fender has commented.
He is not the first artist to contribute his Mercury Prize winnings to good deeds.
In the band received the trophy in 1996 for their release the album, lead singer the singer stated that the act would donate their prize money to the organization War Child.
In 2002, musician the artist split her prize between a few good causes, such as the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"And I contributed a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was a child and they lacked new equipment," she told outlets.
In recent years, Ezra Collective donated their prize money to the community center that nurtured their act, in addition to other independent music bodies.
And 1994 winners M People donated their winnings to a charity for MS after a friend was identified with the illness.
"Receiving the award was sufficient," remarked artist Heather Small. "The money was the bonus but we didn't need the extra, because we had the main prize. So our winning affected another person's life."
In the past week, the Music Venues Trust announced it had protected a couple of small stages in the South East, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The first in Southampton and the other in Bristol were bought under the public acquisition program, which is backed by the arts council and music fans who buy "shares" in the venues.
