Nearly 50 Boston University School of Management graduate students and 10 faculty members took a day off from learning about the global economic environment and what makes a first-rate business leader on Feb. 22 to give free advice to local nonprofit organizations as part of Link Day.

SMG’s Public and Nonprofit Management Program designed the event to give local nonprofits consulting help they otherwise could not afford, while simultaneously giving Masters in Business Administration students the chance to apply what they have learned in the classroom.

Taline Lorensian, Link Day co-chair and a first-year MBA student, said the event was overall a success.

“One of our goals for Link Day was that it would motivate business school students to reach out to the nonprofit world, and an unexpected result was that our students motivated the nonprofits to keep going in what is often an over-worked, under-resourced environment,” she said.

SMG professor James Post, a Link Day participant, said he estimated the consulting services students and faculty provided would have cost the nonprofits a minimum of $5,000, to over $10,000 — a sum most of the participating organizations lack the resources to pay.

Ten nonprofits took part in Link Day, with organizations ranging from domestic violence prevention groups to groups that provide students with information about coastal research.

Anna Eng, a first-year MBA student, said the experience reinforced what she has learned in her classes.

“[Link Day] really made me realize how much I have learned in the one and a half semesters I have been in school,” Eng said. “And it was nice to see it all come together and actually have an impact on someone.”

First-year MBA student Ju-Lien Lee said he was glad to get consulting experience.

“Consulting is a hard field to get into so this was a good to way to get my feet wet and get a feel for what the consulting world is like,” Lee said.

Second-year MBA student Kim Mangino, who participated in Link Day for the second time, said she got the chance to do what she loves.

“I believe in people creating positive change and corporate social responsibility, so this was just a natural extension for me, and it was a lot of fun,” Mangino said. “Also, this year the nonprofits were much more community-oriented than the nonprofits at last year’s event.”

Janet Collazo, executive director of La Alianza Hispana, said she left Link Day with a tool for performance measurement, adding she was impressed with the MBA students.

New Hope Inc. Development and Public Relations Vice President Laura Hennessey Martens said Link Day was “wonderfully beneficial” for her organization.

“We got to do the type of thinking we never have time to do, and the students gave us the foundation for a strategic marketing plan,” she said.