What a terribly sad development indeed. I hope the best for this senior developer who's in such a precarious situation.
raccoondad bank transfers, having a nonprofit status, and working with companies
I don't give a rat's behind about any of that, to be perfectly honest.
Banks are cronyist "private" institutions who collude with one another, dealing in currencies that are constantly being inflated by the corrupt state entities who grant them permission to operate as a global oligarchy. The more we drop our dependence on them and shift towards using cryptocurrency, the better. Never forget that some of the most successful and mature cryptocurrencies, including the most valuable cryptocurrency on Earth, were founded by people who still to this day remain anonymous.
As for non-profit status, my understanding is that GrapheneOS is not directly a non-profit organization, but rather a software development project that is funded by the non-profit "GrapheneOS Foundation", but if I am wrong in this, I welcome any corrections to my errors.
I briefly worked for a non-profit organization that was rife with corruption. Its board of directors, which every non-profit is required to have in order to exist, had taken complete control over the formerly well-meaning organization, which was supposed to help people with disabilities gain independence, and transformed it into a grifting operation to stuff their own pockets with tax-free money. They did this by micromanaging every single possible aspect of the organization and its staff from the top down in order to maximize the non-discretional funding they would receive through government grants and private slush funds. The disabled people they were supposed to be helping were turned into permanent wage slaves. I quit that job in protest.
I'm no lawyer, but my best guess as to why there is a separation between the GrapheneOS project and the GrapheneOS Foundation is to prevent that sort of corruption from occurring. From what I understand, it would allow GrapheneOS to retain its operational sovereignty while receiving funding from an external organization whose mandate is to help them out. Even if the board of directors of the GrapheneOS Foundation were to get greedy, the worst they would be able to do is increase their own salaries. They would not be able to exert any sort of control or influence over the direction or decisions of the GrapheneOS project.
As for "working with companies", I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that. GrapheneOS is a solid product that speaks for itself. I don't see why any company wouldn't want to work with its developers just because they aren't giving their names and addresses away. As far as I know, there is no legal mandate requiring that businesses only use products by people who have waived their right to privacy. If I wanted to open up a retail store that accepts Monero, I would not have to wait until the identity of Nicolas van Saberhagen is revealed in order to do so.