Is it common/possible to say "The organization is defined through its membership" rather than "... by its membership"?

I am reluctant to use "by" in this case because it seems to connote that the membership is actively defining the organization, that they are actually making up their minds about what their organization should be. In contrast, what I want to say/connote is, that the organization is defined by/through the characterists that the members bring into the organization (regardless of whether they actively participate in the decision-making processes. But I'm not sure if "defined through" is correct here...

Any native speaker around?