Today, nearly 50 members of the Charitable Giving Coalition, including Americans for the Arts, sent a letter to U.S. House Budget Chair Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) applauding his recent, public comments about the charitable tax deduction. On average, for nonprofit arts organizations, about a quarter of revenue comes from individual giving.

The Charitable Giving Coalition letter comes on the heels of two recent studies analyzing the expected impact to charitable giving should the provisions in the comprehensive tax reform discussion draft released earlier this year by the U.S. House Ways and Means Chair Rep. Dave Camp become law. First, an August 2014 joint study by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and the Urban Institute Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy projects that the proposed discussion draft could slash charitable giving by as much as $34 billion a year. Another July 2014 study by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center concludes that “For all income groups, the cost of giving to charity would increase under the Camp plan.”

Rep. Ryan’s comments are welcome news, especially so as he has been widely speculated to become the next chair of the House Ways and Means Committee in the 114^th Congress beginning in January 2015.