Academic briefly leading appeal to make money (6)
I believe the answer is:
profit
'make money' is the definition.
'academic briefly leading appeal' is the wordplay.
'academic briefly' becomes 'prof' (short for professor; 'briefly' indicates a short form).
'leading' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'appeal' becomes 'it'.
'prof'+'it'='PROFIT'
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for profit that I've seen before include "Use" , "Surplus earnings" , "Gain from employment of capital" , "bonus" , "Clean up" .)