diff --git a/client/components/notifications/notificationsDrawer.jade b/client/components/notifications/notificationsDrawer.jade
index fee6aef67..2fd2bb229 100644
--- a/client/components/notifications/notificationsDrawer.jade
+++ b/client/components/notifications/notificationsDrawer.jade
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ template(name='notificationsDrawer')
       a.fa.fa-times-thin.close
     ul.notifications
       each transformedProfile.notifications
-        +notification(activityData=activity index=dbIndex read=read)
+        +notification(activityData=activityObj index=dbIndex read=read)
     if($gt unreadNotifications 0)
       a.all-read {{_ 'mark-all-as-read'}}
     if ($and ($.Session.get 'showReadNotifications') ($gt readNotifications 0))
diff --git a/models/users.js b/models/users.js
index 9afd266c0..3c48241a4 100644
--- a/models/users.js
+++ b/models/users.js
@@ -852,7 +852,9 @@ Users.helpers({
       const notification = notifications[index];
       // this preserves their db sort order for editing
       notification.dbIndex = index;
-      notification.activity = ReactiveCache.getActivity(notification.activity);
+      if (!notification.activityObj && typeof(notification.activity) === 'string') {
+        notification.activityObj = ReactiveCache.getActivity(notification.activity);
+      }
     }
     // this sorts them newest to oldest to match Trello's behavior
     notifications.reverse();