The artist has given the complete sum of his £25,000 Mercury Prize winnings to the trust for venues, which works to preserve the United Kingdom's small live music spots.
Fender was presented with the prize on mid-October as his latest record People Watching was declared the outstanding release of the last 12 months.
He has chosen to hand the money over to the trust, in recognition of the crucial part grassroots venues had in his beginning days.
"As an artist would not have achieved this success if it wasn't for all the shows I performed around the North East, and further afield, when I was just getting going," remarked Sam Fender. "These spaces are iconic, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, more than 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately one-sixth of the total UK scene.
Over the past year, top acts including Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Ed Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to support the industry, by including a minor surcharge to their admission fees, which supports independent venues.
Fender also took part, collecting over £100k on his live tour to support thirty-eight small stages across England, Scotland, and Wales.
These funds assisted locations that were confronting imminent closure due to difficulties arising from flooding, fire incidents and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, legal disputes and noise complaints.
Other venues obtained monetary aid in modernizing facilities and gear that directly benefitted performers and fans.
"The idea that revenue from performances in big venues backs the smaller venues, where it kicks off for musicians like me, is just logical," Sam Fender has said.
Fender is among several artists to contribute his award prize money to good deeds.
Back when the band won the prize in the year 1996 for their release Different Class, lead singer Jarvis Cocker declared that the group would donate their cash to the charity War Child.
During 2002, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite shared her prize across several organizations, like the NSPCC and a Sickle Cell charity.
"Additionally, I contributed a thousand pounds to Highgate Newtown, to their gymnastics program, because I practiced gymnastics when I was a child and they required updated gear," the artist explained to a publication.
In recent years, Ezra Collective contributed their prize money to the local youth club that supported their group, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
And winners that year the group donated their prize to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was found to have the condition.
"The victory was quite enough," said singer Heather Small. "The money was the extra but we didn't need the bonus, because we had the honor. So our success impacted the lives of others."
Recently, the trust revealed it had rescued a couple of grassroots venues in that region, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The first in that area and The Croft in that location were acquired under the Own Our Venues initiative, which is supported by Arts Council England and enthusiasts who purchase "ownership units" in the properties.
