Hi everyone,
Sorry to prosetylise for a cause, but given it's a non-profit and important research project...
The SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array (ATA) is effectively being shut down due to withdrawal of both federal and state funding for its ongoing running costs (about $2M USD per annum) and they're currently trying to figure out how to get around the problem.
One obvious solution is to raise more money from donations... so if you feel the ongoing co-ordinated search for astronomers on other planets is worthwhile, pop over to their website and toss them some money:
http://www.seti.org/
Cheers,
Chris