Exhibit Research and Development Fund (350)

The Justice For All Exhibit draws a crowd and creates many opportunities for conversations for Focus on the Family Institute students and other JFA volunteers at Colorado State University in 2004.

Gifts given to the Exhibit Research and Development Fund help JFA design, print, construct, test, maintain, and transport its large-format campus outreach exhibits, smaller exhibits, other dialogue kiosks, and museum-quality brochures in order to draw a large number of pro-choice advocates to engage in life-changing conversations during its outreach events.  This fund also helps JFA create smaller versions of these exhibits for preparing volunteers during training seminars. 

Vision

Our culture is filled with people increasingly distracted by smart phones and entertainments, so in order to get the conversation started about the uncomfortable topic of abortion, we must, in a sense, "distract" people with something more interesting and engaging than what is on their phone.  JFA’s Exhibit Research and Development Fund enables JFA trainers to put theory to the test to determine which dialogue tools meet the current generation by creating conversations, helping us change minds and hearts, and activating pro-life advocates. It also helps us see which of these tools make the greatest impact for the least amount of money spent.    

Above, the Justice For All Exhibit is featured above the fold on the front page of Colorado State University's newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Collegian.

Above, the Justice For All Exhibit is featured above the fold on the front page of Colorado State University's newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Collegian.

How JFA's Exhibits and Other Dialogue Tools Help Create ConversationS

JFA’s tools function as catalysts to conversation that change minds in at least four ways: 

  • The exhibits draw students to talk. Sometimes, they draw a modest number of students, and at other times, the exhibits draw a crowd. That crowd in turn draws more interest and engages more onlookers.

  • Our staff and volunteers then engage people in conversation about the unborn child and abortion. Once the conversation has been started, the exhibits then function as a common visual library or reference point that helps staff and volunteers keep the conversation about abortion productive.

  • Some students don’t stop and talk with us at our outreach exhibits, but the exhibits still help them begin thinking about abortion differently. When a student passes by the exhibits, pictures and text related to the humanity of the unborn and the reality of abortion begin educating them about abortion and sometimes cause them to discuss it with their peers.

  • Finally, These events have many times been covered in the campus newspaper, making them visible to the majority of the student population on the campus and furthering the conversation well beyond the immediate footprint of the exhibits.

When the majority of students on campus are talking and thinking about abortion, pro-life students have plentiful opportunities for dialogue that changes hearts and minds about abortion.

Nov. 2023-June 2024 Goal: $32,000

  • R&D Exploring New Ways (Different from Our Exhibits) to Start Conversations

    • $5000

  • New Panel Designs and Print-Ready Files of Current Designs

    • $1300

  • Transportation: Rental Trucks and/or Vans (approximately 20 outings)

    • $20,000

  • Kiosk Versions of Panel Designs (More Portable) for Seminars and Indoor Outreach: By January 22, 2022, create training versions of representative panels from each of the new exhibits (9 panels total). These panels will be approximately 6 feet tall and will roll into a canister that is ultra-portable. Set-up time will be less than one minute for one person, compared to the current set-up time of our kiosk, which is about 20 minutes for two people. ($300 per panel)

    • $5700

History and Impact of JFA’s Large-Format Exhibit Program

The Justice For All Exhibit was first presented on campuses in the fall of 2000.  Its largest panels are approximately 18 feet high and each side of the Exhibit is 40 feet wide (triangular).  Costing about $40,000 to build, the Exhibit has been, historically, the centerpiece of three of the four major JFA projects (Flagship Training Program, Campus Outreach Exhibits, and Learn at Home program).  

  • It has been exhibited more than 250 days on 40 campuses since its creation. The content of the original exhibit has also been exhibited through a small exhibit version (eight feet high and fifteen feet wide, triangular) version and kiosk version (seven and ten feet high A-frame) at a number of additional campuses.

  • It has facilitated the training of thousands of pro-life advocates during the “Feet Work” (outreach) portion of JFA’s training program since 2003.

  • It has facilitated thousands of conversations with pro-choice advocates. See examples on our Stories page.

JFA has multiplied the impact of the original design of the large-format Exhibit JFA through a smaller 8-foot Exhibit, our kiosks (7-10 feet) which feature similar content, and especially through our museum-quality Exhibit Brochure.  

  • Since 2000, we have distributed over 90,000 of copies of JFA’s Original Exhibit Brochure (2000 Content) to people who expressed a desire to have one. Amanda is one such student who used the brochure later that day to help save the life of little Lucy. (Note: The number "90,000" includes the Brochures we've given to interested students on college campuses, as well as distribution of one or more brochures to people who requested the Brochure online, as well as participants in our seminars, workshops, and presentations.)

New Developments Since 2015