Popular place makes contribution (5)
I believe the answer is:
input
'contribution' is the definition.
(input means someone's contribution to something)
'popular place' is the wordplay.
'popular' becomes 'in' ('in' can mean trendy).
'place' becomes 'put' (synonyms).
'in'+'put'='INPUT'
'makes' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for input that I've seen before include "supply" , "Energy" , "store" , "Resource" , "Signal entering a circuit" .)