The foundation was set up to foster an ecosystem of commercial companies (or in-house teams in public sector entities) and that is the emphasis that the directors of the foundation have maintained since 2010. While I agree with you that there is space for the foundation to do more in-house without stepping on the toes of the ecosystem companies, it was not a walk in the park to get approval for the hiring of two C++-focused devs.

LibreOffice contributors can influence how the foundation operates by becoming members of the foundation and voting in director elections or becoming elected into the board of directors.

I am mentoring over 120 new volunteer contributors per year (most into C++ development or quality assurance). I'm really happy with the workflow I've constructed and you can read more about it here: https://discourse.sustainoss.org/t/how-i-recruit-and-mentor-...

As TDF is a non-profit, cost of labour is certainly an important factor when hiring.