diff --git a/ChangeLog.md b/ChangeLog.md
--- a/ChangeLog.md
+++ b/ChangeLog.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog for dbus-menu
 
+## 0.1.3.1
+
+* Make click dispatch truly menu-owned: store the click dispatch table on the
+  `Gtk.Menu` GObject so it survives `populateGtkMenu` refreshes and works
+  correctly for exported `populateGtkMenu`/`buildGtkMenuItem` APIs.
+* Add `gi-gobject` dependency (used to associate dispatch table with menu).
+
 ## 0.1.3.0
 
 * Menu-level click dispatch: leaf item actions are registered in a persistent
diff --git a/dbus-menu.cabal b/dbus-menu.cabal
--- a/dbus-menu.cabal
+++ b/dbus-menu.cabal
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 -- see: https://github.com/sol/hpack
 
 name:           dbus-menu
-version:        0.1.3.0
+version:        0.1.3.1
 synopsis:       A Haskell implementation of the DBusMenu protocol
 description:    Haskell client for the com.canonical.dbusmenu DBus interface, providing GTK3 menu construction from DBusMenu services.
 category:       System
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@
     , enclosed-exceptions >=1.0.0.1 && <1.1
     , filepath >=1.3 && <1.6
     , gi-glib ==2.0.*
+    , gi-gobject ==2.0.*
     , gi-gtk3 ==3.0.*
     , haskell-gi >=0.21.2 && <0.27
     , haskell-gi-base >=0.21.1 && <0.27
diff --git a/src/DBusMenu.hs b/src/DBusMenu.hs
--- a/src/DBusMenu.hs
+++ b/src/DBusMenu.hs
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 import Control.Exception.Enclosed (catchAny)
 import Control.Monad (forM_, void, when)
 import Data.Int (Int32)
-import Data.IORef (IORef, modifyIORef', newIORef, readIORef, writeIORef)
+import Data.IORef (IORef, atomicModifyIORef', newIORef, readIORef, writeIORef)
 import Data.Map.Strict (Map)
 import qualified Data.Map.Strict as Map
 import Data.Maybe (fromMaybe)
@@ -38,7 +38,17 @@
 import DBus
 import DBus.Client
 import Data.GI.Base (unsafeCastTo)
+import Foreign.Ptr (Ptr, nullPtr)
+import Foreign.StablePtr
+  ( StablePtr
+  , castPtrToStablePtr
+  , castStablePtrToPtr
+  , deRefStablePtr
+  , freeStablePtr
+  , newStablePtr
+  )
 import qualified GI.GLib as GLib
+import qualified GI.GObject.Objects.Object as GObject
 import qualified GI.Gtk as Gtk
 import System.Log.Logger (Priority(..), logM)
 import Text.Printf
@@ -78,6 +88,48 @@
 -- lifecycles.
 type ClickDispatch = IORef (Map Int32 (IO ()))
 
+clickDispatchKey :: T.Text
+clickDispatchKey = "dbus-menu.click-dispatch"
+
+getMenuClickDispatch :: Gtk.Menu -> IO (Maybe ClickDispatch)
+getMenuClickDispatch menu = do
+  p <- GObject.objectGetData menu clickDispatchKey
+  if p == nullPtr
+    then pure Nothing
+    else Just <$> deRefStablePtr (castPtrToStablePtr p)
+
+setMenuClickDispatch :: Gtk.Menu -> ClickDispatch -> IO ()
+setMenuClickDispatch menu dispatch = do
+  -- Tie the dispatch table to the GObject lifetime. We store a StablePtr to the
+  -- IORef; freeing the StablePtr does not free the IORef itself (which can
+  -- still be referenced by signal handlers), but it does avoid leaking the
+  -- stable pointer.
+  sp <- newStablePtr dispatch
+  GObject.objectSetDataFull
+    menu
+    clickDispatchKey
+    (castStablePtrToPtr sp :: Ptr ())
+    (Just $ \p -> freeStablePtr (castPtrToStablePtr p :: StablePtr ClickDispatch))
+
+ensureMenuClickDispatch :: Gtk.Menu -> IO ClickDispatch
+ensureMenuClickDispatch menu = do
+  existing <- getMenuClickDispatch menu
+  case existing of
+    Just dispatch -> pure dispatch
+    Nothing -> do
+      dispatch <- newIORef Map.empty
+      setMenuClickDispatch menu dispatch
+      pure dispatch
+
+ensureMenuClickDispatchWith :: Gtk.Menu -> ClickDispatch -> IO ()
+ensureMenuClickDispatchWith menu dispatch = do
+  existing <- getMenuClickDispatch menu
+  case existing of
+    Nothing -> setMenuClickDispatch menu dispatch
+    Just existingDispatch ->
+      when (existingDispatch /= dispatch) $
+        dbusMenuLogger WARNING "Menu already has a different click dispatch; leaving existing one in place"
+
 -- | Parse a DBus Variant into a LayoutNode.
 variantToLayout :: Variant -> Maybe LayoutNode
 variantToLayout v = do
@@ -192,7 +244,7 @@
 -- CSS classes applied to the menu: @dbusmenu-menu@
 populateGtkMenu :: Client -> BusName -> ObjectPath -> Gtk.Menu -> LayoutNode -> IO ()
 populateGtkMenu client dest path gtkMenu root = do
-  dispatch <- newIORef Map.empty
+  dispatch <- ensureMenuClickDispatch gtkMenu
   populateGtkMenu' client dest path dispatch gtkMenu root
 
 -- | Internal: populate with a shared dispatch table.
@@ -227,7 +279,7 @@
 -- * @dbusmenu-submenu@
 buildGtkMenuItem :: Client -> BusName -> ObjectPath -> Gtk.Menu -> LayoutNode -> IO Gtk.MenuItem
 buildGtkMenuItem client dest path parentMenu node = do
-  dispatch <- newIORef Map.empty
+  dispatch <- ensureMenuClickDispatch parentMenu
   buildGtkMenuItem' client dest path dispatch parentMenu node
 
 -- | Internal: build a menu item with a shared dispatch table.
@@ -287,8 +339,10 @@
     then do
       -- Register click action in the menu-level dispatch table.
       let itemId = lnId node
-      modifyIORef' dispatch $ Map.insert itemId $
-        sendClicked client dest path itemId =<< Gtk.getCurrentEventTime
+      atomicModifyIORef' dispatch $ \m ->
+        ( Map.insert itemId (sendClicked client dest path itemId =<< Gtk.getCurrentEventTime) m
+        , ()
+        )
       -- Thin trampoline: look up action from the persistent dispatch table
       -- at activation time rather than capturing it in a per-widget closure.
       _ <- Gtk.onMenuItemActivate item $ catchAny
@@ -303,6 +357,7 @@
     else do
       addCssClass itemW "dbusmenu-has-submenu"
       submenu <- Gtk.menuNew
+      ensureMenuClickDispatchWith submenu dispatch
       Gtk.widgetSetName submenu (T.pack ("dbusmenu-submenu-" <> show (lnId node)))
       submenuW <- Gtk.toWidget submenu
       addCssClass submenuW "dbusmenu-submenu"
@@ -347,8 +402,8 @@
   (_, layout) <- getLayout client dest path 0 (-1) layoutPropNames
   dbusMenuLogger DEBUG $
     printf "buildMenu: root has %d children" (length (lnChildren layout))
-  dispatch <- newIORef Map.empty
   menu <- Gtk.menuNew
+  dispatch <- ensureMenuClickDispatch menu
   Gtk.widgetSetName menu "dbusmenu-root"
   menuW <- Gtk.toWidget menu
   addCssClass menuW "dbusmenu-root"