Untrue, providing a good or service for free that would normally be paid for is a think of value, for example.Up until now "a thing of value" has always been held to be nothing besides money.
You're going to open the door for even worse than Citizens United if you go down this road -- every foreign government in the world is going to be allowed to use the full force of its state, its intelligence services, its espionage, etc., in order to influence American elections and your'e going to have to like it.
Elections will be decided by whichever state is willing to throw the most resources at swinging it -- so long as they don't actually donate money they can pay their own people extensively to swing your elections.