Finance sport to a good end (4)
I believe the answer is:
fund
'finance' is the definition.
(funding is a kind of financing)
'sport to a good end' is the wordplay.
'sport' becomes 'fun' (synonyms).
'to' says to put letters next to each other.
'end' says to take the final letters.
The last letter of 'good' is 'd'.
'fun'+'d'='FUND'
(Other definitions for fund that I've seen before include "Stock, resources" , "Cash reserve" , "Capitalize" , "Provide with money, say project" , "Monetary resources" .)