Dreadful poorness, no energy — one who might help with funds (7)
I believe the answer is:
sponsor
'one who might help with funds' is the definition.
The answer is a person as well as being a singular noun. This is suggested by the definition.
'dreadful poorness no energy' is the wordplay.
'dreadful' indicates anagramming the letters.
'no' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'energy' becomes 'e' (physics symbol as in E=mc2).
'poorness' with 'e' taken away is 'poornss'.
'poornss' is an anagram of 'SPONSOR'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sponsor that I've seen before include "One giving money in support of an event" , "Patron; promote" , "Supporter or champion" , "Godparent; financial supporter" , "Provide funds for a project or person" .)