I run SETI@home because I find it a worthwhile project. Even as is, we are only listening to a very small portion of the sky. I want to know what's out there :)
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.