Sailor ran a tulip organisation (9)
I believe the answer is:
tarpaulin
'sailor' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'ran a tulip organisation' is the wordplay.
'organisation' indicates an anagram.
'ran'+'a'+'tulip'='ranatulip'
'ranatulip' anagrammed gives 'TARPAULIN'.
(Other definitions for tarpaulin that I've seen before include "sailor's hat" , "seaman rarely required" , "oilskin hat" , "[SHHET]" , "Waterproof canvas used as covering" .)