Offering to serve the people (8)
I believe the answer is:
donation
'offering' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'serve the people' is the wordplay.
'serve' becomes 'do' (synonyms).
'the people' becomes 'nation' (nation is a kind of people).
'do'+'nation'='DONATION'
'to' is the link.
(Other definitions for donation that I've seen before include "An offering or charitable gift" , "presentation" , "present" , "Gift of money as to charity" , "Money given to charity" .)