North happily distributed charity (12)
I believe the answer is:
philanthropy
'charity' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'north happily distributed' is the wordplay.
'distributed' indicates an anagram.
'north'+'happily'='northhappily'
'northhappily' with letters rearranged gives 'PHILANTHROPY'.
(Other definitions for philanthropy that I've seen before include "beneficial treatment" , "Benevolence towards humanity" , "Benevolence to others" , "Practical benevolence" , "The donating of money to good causes" .)