Ask HN: Low-cost CRM solution for non-profits?

I'm looking to create a simple CRM solution for a non-profit that is tech-savvy, but doesn't want to spend much on the infrastructure (especially not per-user recurring monthly costs, as volunteers should join without much effort or additional cost).

It needs to track mostly the communication: if a volunteer would like to care about a given client, they will be able to look through the recent activities, e-mails, phone call memos, and do what they want to do about it.

One way is to archive all incoming and outgoing mail, and index them in a database, unless the receiver opts out (due to the personal nature of the mail). I've seen zoho mail can archive both incoming and outgoing mail, but other mail host don't do such things, and opting out a certain message is another problem.

It looks like I'll need some administrative UI and workflow, that helps to deal with both processing, re-tagging and searching such communication channels.

Is SugarCRM good for this kind of UI?

How shall we create e-mail and other accounts that allow volunteers to join, yet doesn't add extra cost due their infrequent use? (No issues to subscribe for core member accounts).

Any advice is appreciated.

This might work for you: https://civicrm.org/

Have heard of several non-profits that are using this - also has an active community.

Salesforce does have a non-profit tier that's heavily discounted. May be overkill for your case but it's an option

Is this for official US non-profit status organizations, or for ad-hoc and non-US communities too?

Not yet. So far, email hasn't been a primary channel of communication to clients for organizations we've worked with.

I see it being valuable though. I'm not sure what the best way to implement it would be. An in-app email interface? An add-on to an email client like gmail?