In recent years, the topic of "voluntary engagement" has gained popularity both politically and socially. One reason for this is that policy-makers and some researchers expect positive social effects from the voluntary engagement of the population. These expectations base both on the social participation of the engaged individuals themselves and for the cohesion of society as a whole. This is particularly important for (peripheral) rural areas, where there are often only a few opportunities for social leisure activities, and where offers in sports and leisure, but also mobility, fire and rescue services rely on the numerous volunteers on site. In addition, many rural areas have experienced structural change processes in recent decades, sometimes accompanied by a strong reduction in infrastructure. As a result, movements of migration, particularly of younger and better-educated people, have caused the number of potentially engaged individuals to shrink. In addition to spatial inequalities, initial research results suggest that there are also social inequalities regarding the possibilities for participation in voluntary engagement. Politically, this means that certain groups defined by sociodemographic characteristics or spatial affiliation systematically have better access to voluntary engagement and the associated benefits (opportunities for social participation and co-determination, social networks and social capital), while these benefits are not available to other groups to the same extent. Politically and socially desirable would be to counteract these inequalities and thus enable all people in Germany to have equal opportunities for participation and integration through volunteering. A first necessary step towards this is a systematic, basic description and documentation of voluntary engagement by different groups in rural and non-rural areas. Relevant research is largely lacking in this regard. To partially fill this gap, the German Foundation for Engagement and Volunteering has commissioned the study SA:FE (special evaluation "Voluntary Engagement in Different Types of Spaces"), which was carried out by the Thünen Institute for Rural Studies and of which the most important results are presented and described in this report. Using data from the German Survey on Volunteering (FWS) 2019, the study draws a detailed picture of voluntary engagement in rural and non-rural areas and the influence of individual characteristics on the likelihood of voluntary engagement. Results from longitudinal analyses using data from the Socio-Economic Panel for the years 2001 to 2019 provide a temporal perspective. Overall, the results show that voluntary engagement takes place in many different areas, most commonly in the areas of sports and fitness, culture and music, the social sector, schools or kindergartens, religion or church, and leisure and socializing. Volunteering can be organized in very different structures, which can be summarized in institutionalized and non-institutionalized forms of volunteering. The majority of voluntary engagement takes place in institutionalized form. While non-institutionalized forms of volunteering occur with similar frequency across all groups, relevant spatial and sociodemographic differences are evident in institutionalized forms of volunteering. In the FWS 2019 dataset, both forms of volunteering are queried and analysed, here we speak of "voluntary engagement" in contrast to "honorary engagement" in the SOEP, which only includes institutionalized forms of volunteering. Rural areas tend to have higher rates of voluntary and honorary engagement than non-rural ones. This depends on the rurality level, the socioeconomic situation and the survey region. Very rural areas with good socioeconomic conditions and those in western Germany show particularly high engagement. Socio-demographic inequalities are particularly evident with respect to age, gender, educational level, religiosity, household type and income, and migration background. The proportion of young people who are engaged is particularly high compared to other age groups and increases significantly over the period considered. The proportion of engaged older people is notably lower compared to other age groups, but also increases over the period considered, while the proportion of voluntary engagement in other age groups remains stable over time. A closer look at the volunteering of young people shows that adolescents between the ages of 14 and 19 engage a lot, regardless of where they live. The voluntary engagement of young adults between the ages of 22 and 25 in rural areas remains relatively high and constant over the period considered, while it declines significantly in non-rural areas. A relevant factor for the volunteering of young people is the engagement of parents, especially in rural areas. Participation in voluntary engagement is also unevenly distributed by gender. Men are particularly active in institutionalized forms, especially in the older age groups and in (very) rural areas with good socio-economic status. In contrast, women are more likely to engage in non-institutionalized forms. Men and women also tend to volunteer in different areas. Our analyses also show clear educational differences, which can already be observed in students who have not yet completed their education, depending on the type of school. A higher level of education or aspiration is associated with higher proportions of engaged individuals. This is true for all areas of voluntary engagement, except for "accident or emergency services or firefighting." Religiosity also plays a role in engagement, with significantly higher and growing proportions of volunteers among churchgoers compared to non-churchgoers. Social inequality in terms of volunteering also manifests with respect to migration background, particularly in institutionalized forms of voluntary engagement. People with direct or indirect migration experience are significantly less engaged (institutionally) than people without migration experience. With respect to household types, households with couples and children engage more voluntarily than other household types. A higher household income is also associated with greater engagement. In rural areas, gender, household income, and migration background differences are particularly pronounced compared to non-rural areas. Men, people in households with higher incomes, and people without migration backgrounds seem to have easier access to engagement here. Based on the analysis results, we recommend raising awareness of social inequality in engagement at all levels of stakeholders, targeting underrepresented groups, setting diversity as a formal organizational goal, providing low-threshold information offerings, providing practical and professional support for potential volunteers on their way to volunteering, including corresponding school programs in all types of schools. Furthermore, cooperative partnerships between local committees, authorities, and volunteer organizations can help reduce social inequality in engagement by promoting social inclusion. In socio-economically weaker rural areas, we also recommend providing infrastructure, ensuring basic services, and promoting digitalization.