The artist has handed over the entirety of his £25k Mercury Prize winnings to the MVT, which works to protect the UK's independent concert spaces.
He was awarded the award on 16 October as his new release the album was declared the best record of the previous year.
The musician has chosen to hand the money over to the MVT, in acknowledgment of the essential function small stages played in his initial steps.
"I personally couldn't be pursuing this success if it hadn't been for all the shows I did around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," remarked Fender. "These venues are iconic, but they are struggling."
Since the start of 2023, over 150 of these spaces have permanently closed – approximately one-sixth of the entire UK sector.
Over the past year, major artists such as the band Pulp, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Sheeran have all backed the Music Venues Trust in its attempts to help venues survive, by applying a modest fee to their admission fees, which benefits independent venues.
He also participated, raising over £100k on his recent tour to support 38 grassroots venues across the UK.
These funds supported locations that were confronting potential shutdown due to challenges caused by floods, fires and family tragedies, as well as licensing issues, conflicts and noise complaints.
Some locations received monetary aid in modernizing facilities and gear that positively impacted artists and audiences.
"The notion that revenue from concerts in big venues supports the smaller venues, where it kicks off for artists like me, is just logical," the star has commented.
Fender is far from the only musician to donate his award winnings to worthy causes.
In Pulp earned the award in 1996 for their record Different Class, frontman Jarvis Cocker announced that the act would contribute their cash to the charity the charity.
That year, artist Ms Dynamite split her bounty across several organizations, like the children's charity and a Sickle Cell organization.
"I also donated a grand to my local community centre, to their gymnastics class, because I did gymnastics when I was growing up and they required better apparatus," Ms Dynamite shared with outlets.
In recent years, the band gave their winnings to the local youth club that nurtured their band, as well as other grassroots music organisations.
Also winners that year the group donated their winnings to a MS organization after a close contact was identified with the disease.
"Winning was sufficient," said artist Heather Small. "The money was the extra but we didn't require the cherry, because we had the honor. So our victory touched somebody else's life."
Recently, the Music Venues Trust announced it had protected a couple of local spots in the South East, by transferring them to public stewardship.
The Joiners in the city and the other in Bristol were acquired under the public acquisition scheme, which is backed by the arts council and supporters who purchase "shares" in the buildings.
