I saw Seti@home featured early in the AM-hours on TV back in June of 1999, and I signed up instantly. I am convinced that there are others out there - the key is whether or not "our time here" is coincidental with "their time here."
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.