eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife, Pam, and two retired mutual-fund managers have pledged a total of $9 million to the Grameen Foundation USA, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that makes market-rate loans to poor people around the world, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Omidyars' gift of $4 million was made through the Omidyar Network, the main vehicle for their social-justice investments. The other $5 million was received from Janet McKinley, retired chairman of the Income Fund of America, and her husband, George Miller. Together, the two donations are the largest in the eight-year history of Grameen, which was founded by Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.

Grameen USA establishes partnerships with local financial institutions, which in turn make micro-finance loans — $50 to $75, on average — to help poor people around the world start their own income-producing ventures.