Simple cost-of-service breakdown
When to use: to answer "what does one hour of this service actually cost?" for a funder, a trustee, or a service redesign. How to use: give AI staff time, facility use and materials — ask for a per-participant and per-hour breakdown, with assumptions stated.
When to use this prompt
Reach for this prompt when you need to when to use: to answer "what does one hour of this service actually cost?" for a funder, a trustee, or a service redesign. How to use: give AI staff time, facility use and materials — ask for a per-participant and per-hour breakdown, with assumptions stated. It's designed for Finance Lead, Programme Manager. Typically used within Finance work.
Draft with AI, then have a colleague verify facts and tone before use.
How to use it
- 1
Gather your inputs
Have your local context, audience and goal to hand. - 2
Fill in the template
Copy the template below and replace every bracketed placeholder with real, local context. Keep names and safeguarding details out. - 3
Run it in your AI tool
Paste into your preferred AI assistant. Ask a follow-up if the output misses your association's tone or context. - 4
Review with the checklist
Work through the human-review checklist below before you send, publish or act on the output.
Prefer a guided flow? Adapt with the guided builder — it fills placeholders from your association profile.
Prompt template
Calculate a plain cost breakdown for our {SERVICE}. Inputs: {STAFF_HOURS_AND_RATES}, {FACILITY_HOURS_AND_RATE}, {MATERIALS_COST}, {OVERHEAD_ALLOCATION_%}, {PARTICIPANTS_PER_SESSION}, {SESSIONS_PER_MONTH}. Produce: cost per session, cost per participant, cost per participant-hour. State every assumption. Do not add costs I haven't provided.Replace bracketed placeholders with real context. Never paste identifying details about children, health or safeguarding cases.
Worked example
Service: after-school club\nStaff: 2 x £16/hr, 3hrs\nParticipants: 20 per session
What good output looks like
A clean per-session, per-participant and per-participant-hour cost table with assumptions listed.
Why this prompt works
Prevents inflated or under-costed service pricing based on gut feel.
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