Recommend some message-board-and-calendar groupware

…preferably web-based and secure, for a non-profit office of 120 people (too many for the 100-user maximum of Backpack, which would be my first choice otherwise).

My largeish workgroup, mostly not very tech-savvy, needs to post messages (à la group blog) and share a calendar, preferably with emailed reminders. Something people could set as the homepage on their browser at work, to get the “here’s what’s new and here’s who’s out of the office” news first thing in the morning.

I’m not super-tech-savvy myself, but would try to learn whatever’s needed to implement a solution (or I’d buy as much beer as the IT group could drink to bribe them into helping me).

One possibility already suggested is a SharePoint teamsite. I’ll do that if I have to, but the UI is so cumbersome and ugly; I’m hoping for a better-designed solution.

Any suggestions gratefully appreciated.