You're missing the most important piece. Her "contribution" was to launder money to Gore from her husband, Joe. He had already made $3000 in donations to the Gore campaign when the law limited him to just $2000, so he got $1000 refunded and then the same day laundered it and resent it back in to Gore by claiming it was actually from his wife (who used her CIA cover company as an address on the FEC filing by the way).