Finding fun and cheap stuff to do in San Francisco and around the Bay Area.

Going out and having fun in San Francisco is just too expensive. That’s why we started funcheapSF. A free website where cheap bastards like ourselves get together to share tips and events going on in the coming days.

What is funcheapSF.com? - A free web calendar & and emailing list of events in the Bay Area

funcheap.com is a San Francisco-based website which features recommendations of upwards of 50 affordable, fun and unique Bay Area events each week. It was started as a yahoo group in 2003 by two poor, underemployed San Franciscans, Johnny and Shannon, who were sick and tired of trolling through the Guardian, the Weekly, Craigslist, sfstation, citysearch and all those fliers on telephone poles on Haight street just to find out fun things to do that wouldn’t cost us too much. So we put together a list for ourselves and our friends. 10,000 people later, we figured we were on to something! funcheap is free for both promoters and for people looking for fun stuff to do.

Press Quotes (and some Yelps)

“funcheapSF… keeps me on top of the best free and cheap shindigs the city has to offer.”
- sfgate.com

“if you’re not already a member… join!”
- sfist.com

“Bookmark Funcheap for the lowdown on free or nearly-free performances slated for the coming week.”
- sfweekly.com

Yelp Quote by Ally D. about Funcheap:
“i get weekly emails from this group telling me about super random things happening in the dark corners of SF. on more than one occasion i’ve been pleasantly surprised by no name bands and even more random movie screenings. enjoy!”

Yelp Quote by Chris T. about Funcheap:
“I totally rely on funcheapsf to plan my weekend. They told me to go to the Del Monte Tomato and Olive Oil festival tomorrow and then they said Alice’s Now and Zen is the place to go on Sunday. I do what they say and I usually have a lot of fun.”

What kind of events are listed on our site?:

We list most free or cheap things to do like:

• Concerts (Johnny likes lots of concerts)
• Street Fairs and Festivals
• Free concerts in the park
• Happy Hours
• Fashion Shows
• Museums / Art Exhibits
• Lectures / Book Readings
• Plays
• Comedy
• Classes / Workshops

We do mostly our own research to compile our list of recommendations. But we encourage you to submit events to us by Posting them. We’ve found out about tons of great events thanks to your suggestions. (we don’t guarantee we’ll add every event we receive, but we will review every email and consider it for the site)

What kind of events are NOT listed on our site?:

This is a moderated list, meaning we try to filter out all of the garbage before posting it to our site. We do our best to avoid listing real estate seminars, religious recruiting, self-help & self-improvement events, boring things, expensive things, EVENTS LISTED USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. These aren’t hard and fast rules, but rather general guidelines…

Why are you doing this? How do you make money?:

Johnny and Shannon both have full-time boring day jobs, and are running the funcheap site as a labor of love. As the site doesn’t come anywhere close to turning a profit, we do try to offset our costs (servers, domains, postage, etc…) by allowing certain events and venues to sponsor our website and our emails with an ad or two. But we have to actually like the event first and don’t accept everyone who wants to advertise. We’re sure you can understand our need to generate a little bit of income to help cover the costs which we pay out of pocket.

Funcheap’s Weekly Email: The best cheap and free events in the next 10 days:

Our online calendar lists a ton of great events. About once a week, we send out an email (only to those who opt-in to receive our weekly email) with the highlights of the week. We also have tons of giveaways that you can only find out about through our weekly giveaway emails. This is your chance to win concert tickets venues like Café Du Nord, Slims, Popscene and the Independent, Movie tickets to the Parkway Theater, and museum tickets to the Asian Art Museum and the California Academy of Sciences, as well as lots of tickets for quirky little events by local artists we like.

We respect your privacy:

We hate spam and we won’t clog your inbox. If you like, you can sign up for our emails (every email from us comes with an easy and instant way to stop further emails) or you can simply view events on our online calendar. We don’t care! Whatever you want. This was set up by just a couple of underemployed san franciscans who want to share their list with you. No corporations, just wholesome cheap goodness.

Who is behind funcheapSF.com?

We get events from a ton of sources, including lots of submissions from funcheap members. Here’s who helps moderate our list:

• Johnny is a graphic designer who loves concerts, especially indie-pop and electronica.. he’s a big fan of book readings, all the street fairs and festivals, and loves free movies in the park.
• Shannon works helping restore and preserve old buildings. She loves art and museums. She knows where all the best trunk and fashion shows are. She also has a keen eye for finding out whenever bars have free alcohol & wine tastings.
• Kendog is a bartender in the city who knows all the best happy hours. He loves finding great local comedians just before they become famous.
• Dolan is a fantastic photographer, but deep-down he’s a hard-core geek (geeks are cool, by the way). He’s the man behind the code.