"In order to raise money to protect free software we have to transfer this one license to Oracle"
Most 501c entities are corporations.
You probably mean “to a business entity that is not itself a 501c”, but generally a 501c is free to sell assets to other entities without regard to form or (absence of) nonprofit status, though there are other restrictions that might come into play.
If you'd like an example of a sale, look at the sale of edX to 2U. A for-profit got:
- Courses from partner universities, developed believing they were contributing to a non-profit
- Data from millions of students, who believed they were entrusting it to MIT and Harvard
Foundations, individuals, etc. who had supported edX financially found their donations commercialized too.
MIT/Harvard got $800M. MIT decision-makers got cushy jobs at 2U.