In an effort to balance its budget, NPR said on Friday that it would try to reduce its staff about 10 percent through voluntary buyouts.

The announcement was depicted as one of the most substantial staff cutbacks in the history of the public radio organization. An NPR spokeswoman said that if the desired reductions are not achieved through buyouts alone, “involuntary measures will need to be considered.”

An e-mail on Friday to NPR employees said the buyout offers were part of a strategy to “eliminate the deficit and lower ongoing expenses” and that the strategy “also includes investments in our digital future and revenue generating initiatives such as branded events.”

The announcement came about two weeks before the end of NPR’s fiscal year. The organization had been projected to run a deficit of about $6 million this year, though in recent weeks, according to a spokeswoman, that figure has narrowed to $3 million. The deficit is projected to balloon to $6.1 million again in the fiscal year that will begin on Oct. 1. The buyouts and other measures are intended to help NPR break even in the fiscal year that begins in October 2014.