Attempt to include a ruse to distribute funds (8)
I believe the answer is:
treasury
'funds' is the definition.
(treasury is a kind of funds)
'attempt to include a ruse to distribute' is the wordplay.
'attempt to' becomes 'try' (I've seen this in other clues).
'include' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'to distribute' indicates an anagram (letters distributed elsewhere).
'a'+'ruse'='aruse'
'aruse' anagrammed gives 'easur'.
'try' placed around 'easur' is 'TREASURY'.
(Other definitions for treasury that I've seen before include "Repository of government funds" , "Government financiers" , "Finance ministry" , "Its valued contents" , "British government department managing finances" .)