There should be a security equivalent to hiring a lawyer to write strongly-worded letters for you.
Maybe someone could set up a firm where individuals could hand them a vuln report, and then the firm would contact the vulnerable company on the individual's behalf. The firm would do the long, boring dance of "we suspect you're vulnerable to X, though we haven't tested it, but we'd like to do a free vulnerability test on you, so please sign this liability waiver", both protecting the individual from liability, and taking time the individual doesn't have. In return, if the company gives rewards, the firm could take a percentage.