‘Voluntary engagement’ means a non-profit activity which is (1) typically voluntary, (2) of general interest, (3) takes place in the public arena, and (4) is usually exercised in public. Despite the long tradition of voluntary engagement in rural areas, scientific and political hopes have just recently begun to rise. Underlying this is the idea that the citizens’ self-organisation is able to substitute for public services, socially integrate society, and foster the quality of democracy. Peripheral rural areas often suffer from limited finances and the consequences of demographic change. Volunteering requires state support and follows an inner logic which needs to be respected. Civic self-organisation also tends to be socially selective, and associations are not necessarily internally democratic. Against this backdrop, this paper studies possible limits of such idealistic promises of voluntary commitment. Due to different conceptions and operationalisations of voluntary engagement, as well as a lack of appropriate data sources, the quantitative measurement of voluntary engagement in rural areas is difficult. However, it seems certain that volunteering has increased in the past decades. Also, people in rural areas are more willing to volunteer than citizens in other areas. Likewise, men and young people are more likely than women and elderly people to be engaged as volunteers. And on the context level, a high level of unemployment is associated with a low level of voluntary engagement. The empirical state of research exhibits substantial research gaps. There is a great need for re-search to record new forms of volunteering. Research on possible shifts in volunteering, with an evaluation of the meaning of clubs and associations for rural communities, as well as the investigation of structural and cultural requirements for voluntary commitment, is still needed.