“Obama for America” is becoming “Organizing for Action.”

The grassroots political network that made history in 2008 and 2012 is being morphed into a nonprofit advocacy group to help advance President Obama’s agenda.

First Lady Michelle Obama made the announcement in a video message to supporters, calling the move “the next phase in our movement for change.”

“For the past six years, you’ve done something so much bigger than elect a president. You’ve given ordinary people a place in our democratic process again,” she says. “The relationships you made, the tools you built and the lessons you’ve learned have already begun to change our politics. And in the coming years they can change our country.”

The group, which will be funded in part by corporate and individual donors, will exist independent of the Democratic National Committee, focusing primarily on progressive policy goals – Obama’s goals — rather than campaign politics, Democratic officials said.

The transition is unprecedented for a presidential campaign apparatus. Never before has any been re-imagined in this way...