Spotlight on GCSE Business: Crowdfunding
If you are a Lego fan you might be aware that today, 6th October 2026, Crowdfunding opened for Series 9 of the BrickLink Designer Program providing an ideal opportunity for us to see how Crowdfunding can work in the real world.
Crowdfunding and Lego
Crowdfunding is where a small business makes an online appeal for lots of investors to each invest small amounts of money. It enables a business to access finance when it might otherwise not be able to.
The BrickLink Designer Program is a scheme for Lego fans to submit their own designs for Lego sets. So, an individual Lego fan who has designed their own set is the 'small business' in this case. Up to 5 designs of Lego sets are chosen for crowdfunding and all designs that reach the 3 000 pre-order minimum threshold will be produced.
Crowdfunding for the BrickLink Designer Program opens for 6 days, enabling each designer the chance to obtain the finance they need for their set to be produced. Lego fans pre-order the set, essentially buying the set before it has been produced - this is the crowdfunding. So, the Lego fans buying the sets are providing the finance by ordering in advance.
As long as 3 000 people pre-order an individual design, that set will be produced and the Lego fan will receive their set. However, there will be a delay of several months for the set to be produced and shipped.
GCSE Business: Crowdfunding
The benefits of the scheme? Well, Lego fans are able to design and potentially sell their own sets - essentially operate as a small business. Lego fans can purchase sets designed by other fans which would otherwise not be available from Lego - they simply have to commit to buying the set a few months before they will receive it.
Applying some of the advantages and disadvantages of crowdfunding that we study in GCSE Business (Edexcel):
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Low cost finance for Lego fans to be able to raise funds to produce their Lego design. | The finance would be returned to the investors if the Lego design did not meet the minimum funding required (3 000 orders). |
The finance does not need to be repaid (as long as the Lego set is produced). | Lego fan designers place their Lego designs online so may be copied. |
Incorporates promotion for a Lego designer and various Lego sets. | |
The popularity of the design of a fan's Lego set is tested prior to it being produced. |
So does it work? Well, all 5 Lego designs in the Series 9 BrickLink Designer Program met the minimum 3 000 pre-orders in less than one hour of the crowdfunding opening!
It should be noted that the crowdfunding pre-orders for the BrickLink Designer Program sets are made through the Lego website itself, which perhaps gives Lego fans confidence in contributing to financing these sets.
Key Terms
Crowdfunding | A long-term source of finance where a small business makes an online appeal for lots of investors to each invest small amounts of money. |
Free downloadable Key Terms document to support GCSE Business (Edexcel) is available under Business Resources.
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