It’s one of the most infuriating paradoxes in social business: Getting money into the hands of women has huge benefits for themselves, their families and the broader economy. Yet an estimated 70 percent of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in emerging markets are underserved (or unserved) by financial institutions, leading to a credit gap of close to $300 billion.

Three powerhouse organizations joined forces last week to tackle that issue, as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the U.S. State Department and microfinance pioneer Kiva announced the launch of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund. The fund is aimed at expanding access to finance for women in the 84 countries where Kiva operates, by matching the contributions of lenders who respond to a woman entrepreneur’s loan request on Kiva’s online platform. Over the next five years, it hopes to crowdfund loans ranging from $450 to $100,000 for 1 million women entrepreneurs. Donors will be solicited to contribute capital to this effort at a minimum of $250,000.