Rick DeMark was sitting at home watching a Red Sox game when he first saw the commercial for American Express's Members Project.

The star-studded ad featured celebrities talking about humanitarian causes important to them. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres, singer Alicia Keys and Olympic snowboarder Shaun White were among the stars, along with a man who crashes the commercial set and announces that keeping Lake Winnipesaukee clean is what's most important to him.

DeMark, who has worked for years with conservation groups to protect the lake and its surrounding watersheds, did a double-take.

"I didn't have TiVo, so I couldn't replay it," he said.

The next day, DeMark said his colleagues were buzzing about the commercial, which has aired nationally since the project launched May 15. The credit card company asked cardholders to submit proposals for environmental and social causes important to them. It has promised to fund at least $1 million of the project that earns the most votes.

It didn't take long for several groups to collaborate and submit a Save Winnepesaukee project, which would create a watershed management plan for the lake, also protecting several nearby ponds and tributaries. The plan was one of 50 chosen from 8,000 proposals, and American Express cardholders voted to keep it on a list of top 25 projects. The next round of voting ends tomorrow, and the group hopes their project will make into the top five and remain a contender for the million dollars.

Joanna Lambert, who coordinated the project's advertising for American Express, said one of the ad writers had heard about Lake Winnipesaukee from a friend, and it just came to him during a brainstorming session.

"They were looking for a project idea to kind of represent something that people think is important, and caring for and maintaining lakes is important to many, many people, so it was a great example," Lambert said.

Proposals flooded in, and a panel of celebrities and philanthropists, including CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta and primate specialist Jane Goodall, screened the plans and chose 50 finalists, American Express spokeswoman Leslie Berland said. The panel was looking for innovative ideas that would have a broad impact on the community and were also feasible, she said.

When the lake was mentioned in the commercial, DeMark said it was a no-brainer that the groups who have worked to protect it over the years should submit a proposal of their own.

"The problem is that, as of right now, Lake Winnipesaukee lacks an overall management plan, and as the state's largest and most important water body from a number of standpoints, it's critical that this happen," said DeMark, who is the director of the North Country Conservation and Development Resource Area Council.

The council has worked with the Plymouth State University Center for the Environment, the Lake Winnipesaukee Watershed Association and the Lakes Region Planning Commission to draft the plan. The group submitted a grant proposal to the state Department of Environmental Services to create a similar plan last year, but their proposal was denied.

Kimon Koulet, the director of the planning commission, said the groups had already decided how they would share responsibilities for developing the watershed and had sketched out a four-year plan for improving water quality, controlling development and educating residents and tourists about lake maintenance. With the groundwork laid, it was simple to submit their idea to American Express.

"It was kind of like, 'Well, now we're entering competitions for funding projects,' " Koulet joked. "For most of us, that's a little out of character. But it was serendipity, the way that worked."

The plan, which costs about $1 million, would help the 16 communities within the watershed, including the eight towns on the lake, share information and work together toward similar conservation and planning objectives.

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