Well, I won't comment on specific ICOs as saying they are good, bad, promising, scams or anything like that, but I will share my vision.
What do investors think to get in return?
To start, I think the answer to that question is pretty straight forward. I believe that even people that want to support the blockchain projects and community wouldn't invest just to help the people behind the ICO, everyone is expecting finantial returns. What do I think investors think to get in return? Money.
This happens because before this ICO madness began it was something less accessible and more risky to common investors (as it still is, but now more people are interested). One year ago a promising ICO would have raised around 5 million dollars and be considered succesful, and then as the company starts to show progress in their project development more people want to invest in them (through exchanges, after ICO period) and them its market value increases a lot, and people that participated on the ICO get higher profits.
But what if those coins do not get back the initial worth?
You should invest in an ICO if you think the project's value proposition is good, if it makes sense to be in the blockchain and if you trust the team can deliver what they are promising. If this is the case, price volatility is a common thing in crypto currencies and you should keep yourself updated about the project you invested in and see if their business is growing. Finantial returns should come naturally if you believe in the technology potential and in the specific application the ICO is proposing.
ICOs, also known as crowd sales, are a new way of financing for startups in the block chain space that involves issuing a new digital currency or token to early backers of the project in exchange for bitcoin, fiat currency or other established digital currencies.