After much headache, determine that we need django-notification=0.2 and Django=1.3.1

local/context.py

@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ def donation_info(request):
 
 def notifications(request):
     if request.user.is_authenticated():
-        return {'notices': Notice.objects.filter(unseen=True, user=request.user, on_site=True)}
+        return {'notices': Notice.objects.filter(unseen=True, recipient=request.user, on_site=True)}
     return {}
 
 def javascript_uris(request):