Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Tucson serves southern Arizona with refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, assistance for asylum seekers at the Tucson border crossing, emergency food and housing, and counseling. Services are open to people of all faiths. This page covers what the agency does locally, the most useful ways to give, and how to volunteer.
Every Catholic Charities agency is shaped by its territory, and few territories shape an agency more than this one. The Diocese of Tucson sits on Arizona's border with Mexico, so alongside the standard human-services work — emergency food, housing help, counseling — the agency staffs services at the Tucson border crossing for asylum seekers and migrants, and it coordinates with the Kino Border Initiative on cross-border humanitarian work.
It also manages refugee resettlement for people arriving through legal immigration channels: airport pickup, housing setup, school enrollment, and the paperwork of starting over in a new country. Immigration legal services are the other pillar. Demand for affordable immigration lawyers in southern Arizona far exceeds what nonprofit legal organizations can supply, and Catholic Charities Tucson is one of the few providers filling that gap.
Note the geography: this agency covers the southern part of the state. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Phoenix handles central and northern Arizona separately, so if you are in the Phoenix metro or Flagstaff, that is a different organization with its own programs and donation page.
Cash is the most flexible gift here, because the agency's costliest work — legal representation, resettlement casework, border humanitarian aid — cannot run on donated goods. You can give online at cctucson.org/donate, either as a one-time gift or a monthly recurring donation. Recurring gifts matter more than most donors realize: resettlement and legal cases run for months or years, and predictable revenue lets the agency keep caseworkers on staff.
If a specific program motivates you, such as refugee resettlement or border services, the donation form and the agency's staff can usually direct a gift to that program. Check the official site for current options before earmarking a large gift.
Volunteers keep several programs running. Based on the agency's own descriptions, common roles include:
Spanish speakers are especially useful given the region's demographics, though most roles do not require it. Apply through the official site; roles involving clients typically include an application and screening step. If you need help rather than wanting to give it, the same site lists current programs, and services are available regardless of your religion or immigration status.
Two minutes of diligence is worth it for any sizable gift. Confirm the agency's 501(c)(3) status through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search at apps.irs.gov, and look up its rating on Charity Navigator — Arizona's Catholic Charities agencies have strong track records there. Keep a written acknowledgment for any donation of $250 or more if you plan to claim a tax deduction.
Sources: Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Tucson official site (cctucson.org); our Arizona charity guide research. Retrieved July 2026. We are not affiliated with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Tucson and receive no compensation for this listing. Spotted an error? [email protected]
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