Quick update on cobbling together a basic working free stack for the site. Great to have a set up which can grow steadily from core MVP to additional features and build out as we grow overtime. Check out what I toyed with in the notes below ! 

https://www.buddyboss.com/  (Free Platform and Paid Theme) 

http://rankitwp.com/  (A Promising Link Aggregator but likely abandaned now...)

https://www.quantumcloud.com/products/simple-link-directory/ (Heaps of features if you want to do Lists of Links. Freemium.) 

https://www.wprssaggregator.com/extensions/ (Autoposts Pulled RSS Feeds. Free version with paid add ons.)

https://8degreethemes.com/blog/best-free-buddypress-wordpress-themes/ (Bunch of free themes for buddypress)