Patron succeeded with little money, securing bridge team (7)
I believe the answer is:
sponsor
'patron' is the definition.
(I know that patron can be written as sponsor)
'succeeded with little money securing bridge team' is the wordplay.
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
'with little money' becomes 'poor'.
'securing' indicates putting letters inside.
'bridge team' becomes 'NS' (north and south are a team in bridge).
'poor' going around 'ns' is 'ponsor'.
's'+'ponsor'='SPONSOR'
(Other definitions for sponsor that I've seen before include "Godparent; financial supporter" , "One who pays costs for event" , "advertising?" , "Angel" , "One funding an event" .)