A gift for putting party before country (8)
I believe the answer is:
donation
'a gift' is the definition.
(donation is a kind of gift)
'party before country' is the wordplay.
'party' becomes 'do' (do can informally mean a party).
'before' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'country' becomes 'nation' (synonyms).
'do'+'nation'='DONATION'
'for putting' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for donation that I've seen before include "Gift or contribution" , "An offering or charitable gift" , "Do anoint by way of a gift" , "present" , "Money given to charity" .)