Have fun meeting people more like you. Help build our community of singles, by participating in our events. We only want participants.  By joining, you agree to sign-up today for an event or two or even propose one that you want to help host. Event organizers welcome too.

Since December 10, 2007 we have brought together thousands of highly active singles through nearly a thousand events, to experience new things and meet new people.  Truly, we are a club that makes married friends jealous of our fun.  Wanna join?

Our approach is to provide the kinds of events that get the most people out, based on a Singaporian government program in the 1990s. In that case, their government brought workaholic and isolated singles together through physical activities (e.g. bowling) to allow young office workers the opportunity to connect, marry, and have babies. Since then, the Chinese government is doing the same.

We focus on a customized Canadian model for highly active singles, that includes lots of physically stimulating outdoors activities and highly active indoor activities. Once a month, we have a pub night or social to allow people to further connect. Unlike other clubs, we focus on activities mainly and not as much eating and drinking, although we often have post-activity socials to improve the opportunity to meet new people. When we do go to a pub or restaurant, we don't over indulge.  Our focus is on healthy minded people who are interested in activities that may be more physically challenging for those sedentary members of our society.  This ensures we focus on a particular kind of active person who is more likely to share your interests and participate in the events you enjoy too.

We charge event and program fees that are fair value for our members who can recognize good quality. We welcome partnerships with people and businesses, who want to make some extra money planning good quality events. For more information, go to the bottom of this page.

How to Build your Singles Social Network through Funabalu?

Funabalu-Singles allows you to be strategic in building your new circle of friends. It is both a magnet and a filter.  We design events that attract similar kinds of people. Those who don't share your interest in a healthy lifestyles, don't attend our specially designed events.  Volunteers help create programs to appeal to different interests. Why not volunteer to help bring people together around your interests too and help build your own community within ours?

We focus on a good mix of outdoors activities and indoors activities.  By designing events that reinforce positive social lifestyles, you get to meet people who share similar values.

Demographics:

We try and appeal to all youthful, outgoing, action oriented singles who enjoy culture as much as outdoors.  This means that we focus on the needs of what Statistics Canada calls the mature singles segment of society, primarily between the ages of mid-20s to mid-50s.  We welcome those who may be younger or older and possibly married too, but this is our target group for the kinds of activities we focus on.

We will run events for our general club or those focused on a particular age range (e.g. 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s) or life situation (looking meet partners to create families, divorcees, single parents) from time-to-time.  The best way to ensure we have the kinds of people you want to meet is to invite your friends to join and invite them to invite their friends.  That's how you make it your club too.

How is this different from meeting people at bars and online dating?

Unlike bars and online dating, you get to meet a consistent quality of people and not so much a general cross-section with those you may want to avoid.  This makes our Funabalu-Singles club unique in our community. We may not be the largest, but we are the best at bringing together the best.

You will notice how our members are of high quality and often great contributors to society.   If you meet friends or a partner, they will more likely share your physically and culturally active lifestyle.

How we're different from other social clubs?

We just don't go to bars and buy alcohol induced fun, like other clubs. We earn our beers first through a healthy, social lifestyle networking. While it seems other social clubs focus on promoting businesses that push alcohol (bars and catering businesses), we create more fun on our own than any of them.

This is an alternative to:

1) Online dating - studies have shown that while some people do meet through these, it is just as likely you will meet frauds, scam artists, and those who misrepresent themselves.

2) Bars - Attending bars, pubs, and nightclubs alone is a strategy to meet those who may share an appreciation of BOOZE, but not necessarily your overall lifestyle!  We do enjoy nightclubs too for dancing and bonding among our members, but not exclusively.

3) Outdoors & Sports Clubs for families and couples - Singles are often outnumbered by couples and families who dominate these clubs for their own interests (e.g. most canoe camping clubs in the area are mainly family oriented, neglecting the needs of singles.)

4)  Informal singles clubs - These often are designed for people who are more interested in their own needs than in yours. If the group is managed by a clique, it is one of these.

Is Funabalu a Meetup Group?

We started with a group email list in November 2007 and then expanded to Facebook and Meetup. Meetup is a wonderful Social Media Networking site.  It provides a content management system, however, it has no role in the management of our operations, other than providing a system we rent from them. Please do not ever refer to us as a Meetup Group when they have nothing to do with running the club.  We don`t brand Meetup a Funabalu enterprise, when neither are related.

How did this club get started?

The Funabalu-Singles concept was created one snowy Valentines night on a ski hill chairlift. I was wondering where all the gals were? Were they hiding at home with their girlfriends, watching chick flicks, eating chocolates and getting drunk on champagne?

The only singles I met were guys, except for one fellow who told me that he might be single by the end of the night. Why? Because he told his girlfriend that they could celebrate Valentines any evening, but tonight it was snowing. These were great ski conditions! ? "It isn`t my fault she doesn`t like skiing!", he exclaimed.

Yes, it wasn't her fault. But was a shame they didn`t share interests, because they could have been sharing a beautiful ski moment. For that fellow and all other adventurous singles, I created this club for you to meet people like you while canoeing, hiking, dancing, kayaking, skiing, skating, etc.

Make it work for you:

My strongest suggestion is to make it work for you. Commit to fun. I know it`s hard for singles to commit sometimes. That`s possibly why many of us got here. But really, this is the way to build your social circle. Doing stuff that`s fun and appeals to people who can share fun.  After you register with us, RSVP for your first event. Like I said, commit to fun. Create a new social circle and come again and again.

Funabalu-Singles is also a great way to explore your region too, as we design programs to provide extra special experiences.  It`s like being a tourist in your own city! Who else will take you to places no one else will ever take you?

Rule of Thumb:

Each event tends to attract 50% returning members and 50% new members. There`s always a new group to connect with. That`s how you build your new social circle and make life a blast.

While we don`t cater to a specific age group, we focus most of our activities towards fit, action oriented people who have the stamina to enjoy an action packed lifestyle. This means that the average age range is from mid-20s to late 40s, early 50s. We call this the mature adult demographic. The age range often fluctuates from activity to activity.

Event & Program fees:

Paying fees is good to weed out the cheap and scam artists. Anyone who has used a free online dating site versus a paid one knows the difference.  Free sites are prone to imposters who prey upon those who may be too cheap to subscribe to a paid site.  Because those people who sign-up to free sites and events are those who want something for nothing (aka cheap), they are open to become victims to those who appeal to their desire.

For this reason, we cater only to those who are sophisticated enough to know the difference between quality and cheap singles event providers or online social clubs. We charge a modest fee to cover costs and weed out imposters. This protects your privacy and assures you the opportunity to meet higher quality people.  This also reduces the prices of the events you attend through us and encourages everyone to participate more to maximize the value of their memberships. Whereas other providers will often charge you way more for less, we focus on good quality fun and keeping things reasonable.  It is why we have such a good reputation among our members.

Because we now run this as a full-time operation with office rental, equipment purchases, and a full-time organizer, we need too cover costs. We charge a membership fee of only $20 every 4 months, that is cheaper than any other singles event service, premium online dating site, or even one speed dating session or party. You save lots of money through this approach, meeting more people like you, at less expensive, high quality events.

Volunteering:

We lose volunteers all the time to new relationships created through our club and always need new ones. You are also welcome to volunteer to organize activities that appeal to people you want to meet too. If you have specific skills, such as certification to teach canoeing, hiking, camping, kayaking, cycling, rowing, etc. please contact the organizer. We would love to have your help. ¸

Paid Event Organizers:

If you are somewhat entrepreneurial, we want you to help us design events and programs that can meet the needs of our members on a fee basis.  We understand that in this economy, people need to make extra money and there is no more fun way to do this than by designing the kinds of events and our members would enjoy. Because our members understand that good quality fun at a fair price brings together people who have a similar appreciation of value.  It is just another way to weed out the kinds of people who cannot appreciate that value others bring to them.

Partners:

We also partner with commercial service providers to offer you good quality services and products, such as dance studios, fitness studios, and adventure tourism operators.

** Liability: All activities involve some risk. This can make them more fun.  Funabalu-Singles is considered a social networking club and cannot assume financial liability for mishaps, without charging a steep membership fee that would cover insurance for your benefit.  By your participation, you accept your own personal risk and can attest that you have the skills and physical capabilities to safely enjoy the activities you RSVP for.  If you are unsure of your physical or mental capabilities, I recommend you seek advice from your doctor or other professional beforehand.  If you are unsure about your skills, please contact the organizer.  It is the responsibility of those who invite guests to our events to inform them of this condition.

Now, join now and have fun!  Don`t forget to sign-up for that first event to learn what it is all about.

John