Volunteer organisations will get extra funding in an effort to boost services and help those giving up their time for their communities.

More than six million Australians volunteer each year but numbers have not yet reached what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019, the proportion of adults who had volunteered in the past year was 36 per cent, but by April 2022 that had declined to 26 per cent.

This means there were nearly two million fewer volunteers at the start of 2022 compared to before the pandemic.

The federal government will provide $10 million via the volunteer grants program which assists organisations across Australia.

Grants of between $1000 and $5000 can be used to help volunteers buy equipment or reimburse fuel, transport and training costs.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said volunteers provided essential services such as those who helped out in disasters, supported vulnerable Australians and assisted local sports teams and events.

“These locally awarded grants help to ensure communities are at the centre of volunteering and help us to maintain a resilient volunteering sector,” she said.

Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said the conversation about skill shortages should include volunteer organisations to look at what can be done to help them maintain a volunteer force.

“We simply cannot, and should not, take these iconic volunteer-run organisations for granted, nor can we take for granted the effort needed to skill up the millions of Australian volunteers,” she said.

Ms Ley, who is holding a roundtable with volunteer groups in Canberra on Friday, asked the community to consider what an Australian summer would look like without surf life savers or volunteer firefighters.

More than 200,000 volunteers work in fire service organisations, and about 25,000 in state and territory emergency services.

There were more than 2.1 million volunteers in NSW, but the Northern Territory had the highest number as a percentage of its population with nearly 35 per cent of Territorians volunteering their time in 2022.

– AAP