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The artist has donated the complete sum of his twenty-five thousand pound honor prize money to the Music Venues Trust, which functions to protect the United Kingdom's grassroots live music spots.

He was presented with the award on 16 October as his latest record People Watching was named the outstanding release of the past year.

Fender has opted to hand the money over to the Music Venues Trust, in recognition of the vital role grassroots venues fulfilled in his beginning days.

"I would not have achieved this success if it hadn't been for all the gigs I played around the North East, and elsewhere, when I was just getting going," stated the artist. "These venues are iconic, but they are facing challenges."

Beginning in 2023, over 150 of these venues have permanently closed – roughly 16% of the total UK scene.

Over the past year, top acts like Pulp, the group Coldplay, the singer Katy Perry and Sheeran have all supported the Music Venues Trust in its initiatives to keep the scene afloat, by adding a small levy to their ticket prices, which supports local stages.

Fender also joined in, collecting in excess of £100,000 on his 2024 arena tour to help numerous local spots across Britain.

These funds supported locations that were dealing with potential shutdown due to challenges caused by floods, blazes and family tragedies, as well as regulatory hurdles, court cases and neighbor objections.

Additional spaces obtained financial assistance in improving amenities and sound and lighting systems that helped performers and audiences.

"The idea that money from concerts in major spaces supports the independent spots, where it all starts for performers like me, is just logical," Fender has stated.

He is far from the only musician to give his award prize money to good deeds.

Back when they earned the trophy in 1996 for their record Different Class, lead singer Cocker stated that the act would donate their prize money to the organization War Child.

During 2002, rapper and singer Ms Dynamite divided her bounty between a few organizations, like the NSPCC and a charity for Sickle Cell.

"I also gave a £1,000 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.

Previously, the band donated their prize money to the local youth club that supported their act, as well as other independent music bodies.

Also 1994 winners they contributed their winnings to a charity for MS after a acquaintance was diagnosed the illness.

"Receiving the award was ample," remarked vocalist Heather Small. "The prize was the extra but we could do without the cherry, because we had the main prize. So our victory touched another person's life."

Recently, the trust announced it had rescued two small stages in the South East, by bringing them into local control.

The first in Southampton and the other in that location were acquired under the community ownership initiative, which is supported by a national body and music fans who purchase "ownership units" in the venues.